Digimon Xros Wars: Xtra
by Crystal Mizuka
Summary: It was a fairly typical day.  Get up, go to school, head home, fall into some nameless void to another world, and suddenly there were monsters everywhere.  Alright, so it doesn't happen to everyone.  Just anyone who gets involved with digimon.
1. Part 1

Additional Author's Notes: I guess I should apologize for my rather blatant exploitation of original characters (including digimon). There is really a very simple explanation for how this whole mess came about. I became addicted to Digimon Xros Wars and lacking the inclination to seek out prospective role-players I thought I could satisfy my obsession by working it into a fanfic. Somehow, over the course of several months, it expanded from a simple one-shot into a five chapter story arc of increasing absurdity. If nothing else, I suppose this is worth submitting here just because Imperialdramon makes such an awesome airship.

I would also like to note that this was all originally submitted in a community I maintain over on LiveJournal where I was able to take certain creative liberties with some of the formatting. More specifically, the Digi Xros sequences are a lot more _colorful_.

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Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

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| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 1 **_|

No one ever plans for these things to happen. One minute you're walking home from school. The next, the sky tears open and you find yourself being whisked away to another world. Alright, so it doesn't happen to everyone. In fact, such occurrences are probably extremely rare. Nevertheless, this is roughly what happened to Crystal Mizuka.

Crystal was your average teenager. She had blue-green eyes and blond hair that came down a little below her shoulders with a small braid dangling in front of her left ear and bangs that could be considered somewhat unruly. She was a bit of a tomboy dressed in blue jeans with a black tanktop under a short-sleeved orange hoodie vest, black sneakers with barely visible navy blue trim and a matching pair of fingerless gloves. There was also a stainless steel chain around her neck with a small pendant in the shape of a dragon hanging from it.

Crystal was the kind of person who was more comfortable climbing a tree or sitting in front of a computer than she was with people. She liked to dabble in a little bit of everything, but she wasn't so great at math or history. And she was even worse with geography. Still, she could get around just fine on her own as long as she could spot familiar landmarks to refer to. However, none of that had prepared her for the day when she would be swept away into the Digital World.

It happened suddenly, but with plenty of warning. First clouds began speeding across the sky. Then the sky itself flickered from it's familiar reassuring blue color to a strange luminescent green in patches that seemed strangely pixelated. In the next instant the sidewalk beneath Crystal's feet suddenly split forming a narrow pitfall filled with the name eerie green light. Crystal started to fall and it seemed that tunnel beyond the narrow opening might just go on forever. As Crystal continued tumbling downward she eventually lost consciousness.

* * *

A Gururumon chomped onto the right flank of an approaching Tuskmon in the midst of a battle taking place to guard the entrance to a narrow canyon. A Raptordramon nearby rammed headlong into another. A Lighdramon unleashed a powerful blast of lightning on several others. And a Togemogumon pelted even more of the advancing Tuskmon with a barrage of the diamond spears from its back. Still, they were gravely outnumbered.

That was when the human girl appeared on the ground in the midst of the battlefield just beyond the mouth of the canyon. A small green-eyed black dragon with a pattern of silver and gold lightning bolt stripes took an immediate interest in the unconscious human. The dragon had fleshy ear-like or horn-like protrusions extending from the back of its head and a pair of golden, bat-like wings on its back that were clearly much too small to be of any use for flying. It also had five fingered hands with each digit ending in a pointed silver claw and three-toed, silver clawed feet.

Meanwhile, a red raptor-like digimon with black tiger stripes was preparing to intercept an approaching Deltamon. The raptor-like digimon had a pair of metallic spikes protruding from the back of its skull as well as metallic horns above each of its blue eyes and another above each nostril. It was roughly four and a half feet in height and perhaps six and a half feet in length from its snout to the tip of its tail. It had three wickedly curved white claws on each hand with matching claws on its three-toed feet.

The Deltamon aligned the metallic serpent and skull heads on each of its arms into a triangle with its main head so that all three mouths would be in position to unleash the devastating blue-colored beam of its Triplex Force attack. The raptor-like digimon exclaimed, "Spit Fire!" in a decidedly masculine voice before exhaling a golden burst of flames to intercept the beam. Where the attacks collided there was an explosion and the shockwave pushed the raptor-like digimon back several meters, but he refused to back down.

"Slashmon," the black dragon attending to the unconscious human girl called out to the raptor-like digimon in a distinctly feminine and incredibly arrogant voice, "you're going to scare our new friend doing that!"

"Well then Zapmon," the raptor-like digimon called Slashmon grunted, "if you're concerned about that, then perhaps you ought to find someone to help you move the human away from here."

The explosion, along with the strange voices that followed, finally brought Crystal back to the domain of consciousness just in time to see Deltamon unleashing a second wave of its Triplex Force attack. Slashmon's claws began to shine as he charged into the attack and proceeded to cut through the beam with his claws while exclaiming, "Battle Claw!" This caused the portions of the beam that had been struck by Slashmon's claws to become redirected back on Deltamon causing the large, three-headed blue dragon to reel backward from the impact.

Slashmon seemed to smirk, "I'll handle things here."

Crystal sat up in considerable confusion. Zapmon tugged at her sleeve speaking urgently, "Hey. Think you can walk? We need to get out of here."

"Uh," Crystal started slowly. "Yeah, I think so."

She managed to get up on her feet. Zapmon seemed satisfied by this and started dashing into the canyon waving over her should for the girl to follow, "Come on, this way!"

Crystal hesitated, but considering what she had just witnessed she couldn't think of a reason to argue so she reluctantly followed after the small dragon.

* * *

Zapmon led Crystal to a spot where there were already a Yuki Agumon, Dorumon and a Tokomon hiding with a group of Dodomon and Dorimon behind a row of boulders. Crystal was trying to find her bearings and failing spectacularly with all the abnormal visual stimuli that the Digital World had to offer. After several long moments of this she couldn't tolerate it anymore.

"What the heck is going on here!" she demanded of no one in particular. She already knew that the red raptor from before and the black dragon that was with her could talk which meant that the other creatures that were now surrounding her could probably speak as well, but she had trouble finding any comfort in that knowledge.

"We're under attack," Zapmon supplied helpfully. "You picked a pretty nasty time to show up here."

Crystal's mind struggled to interpret what she had seen when she had regained consciousness. Monsters fighting with monsters and some of them were huge. But wait, why were they fighting each other? She quickly realized that the monsters on the side she had fallen on, because she distinctly remembered falling before she got there, must have been trying to protect all the smaller monsters that she was hiding with. When Crystal thought of it like that, she began to wonder if monster was even the right classification for these strange creatures. The small ones were cute and harmless looking enough that it made her seriously doubt her previous assessment.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Crystal offered dumbly.

"Probably not," Zapmon responded doubtfully. "Just stay here and stay out of the way."

Crystal didn't like the sound of that. She _wanted_ to help. And that was when she thought she heard a voice that didn't belong to Zapmon or any of the other surrounding digimon.

**To Be Continued...**

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Author's Note: I thought I could make this a simple one-shot, but with the way things are going it looks like that's going to be out of the question now. Obviously, I should have known better. This is Digimon after all.


	2. Part 2

Additional Author's Notes: Things kind of got off to a slow start because I was still trying to test the waters of the new series. In fact, I didn't get around to the next chapter for about three months after writing this one. That's also when things got a little more interesting, complicated and excessively over the top. Basically, I warned my friends that letting me near a Xros Loader would be dangerous and then I had to go and prove it.

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Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

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| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **_|** Part 2**_ |

_"Do you wish to protect these young ones?"_

Crystal was caught in a sudden haze of bright light, but this time she definitely heard a voice. It seemed to come from all around her without any identifiable source. There was, however, some kind of electronic gadget that could have been a cell phone or an MP3 player with a dull gray casing suspended in the air a short distance in front of her.

_"Do you desire to help them?"_

"Well," she admitted, "I'd like to do _something_."

_"What is your name?"_

"Crystal Mizuka," she answered although afterward she thought it was a bit odd that she was conversing with a strange voice that belonged to someone or something she couldn't see. Her voice bounced back at her several times before Crystal felt a vibration in the air that gradually became an audible sound.

The electronic gadget suspended in the air had reacted to her voice. The screen lit up and the casing rapidly became flooded with squares of metallic silver until the entire thing had changed color.

_"Take this Xros Loader,"_ the voice came again.

Crystal held out her hand as the strange gadget floated toward her. She probably would have been a little more weirded out by all this if she hadn't already been surrounded by a bunch of colorful monsters in such a surreal landscape. As the Xros Loader moved toward her it seemed to absorb the light that had enveloped her to reveal that she was once again standing amidst the crowd of small creatures that were cowering from the battle taking place in the distance. Seeing them restored Crystal's resolve and she grabbed the Xros Loader out of the air.

Then a thought struck her, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"A Xros Loader," Zapmon was staring at the girl in awe. "Does this mean you can activate Digi Xros?"

Crystal looked between the gadget in her hand and the small dragon, "I don't even know what that means."

A stray blast from Deltamon caused a row of boulders near where they were hiding to explode. A Psychemon and Chibimon quickly fled from the rubble along with a frightened group of Tsunomon and Koromon.

"There's no time to explain," Zapmon propelled herself on top of the boulders they were hiding behind. "You'll have to figure it out yourself. I need to go help Slashmon fight."

* * *

Zapmon was quick on her feet, but there were still times when she would mentally curse her stubby legs for not allowing her to run faster and her puny wings for being completely useless for flying. Still, it didn't take her long to get back to where Slashmon was trying to hold off Deltamon while Gururumon, Raptordramon, Lighdramon and Togemogumon were busy with the horde of Tuskmon. It looked like she was getting back just in time considering Slashmon was already looking pretty worn out from the effort of clashing with an inherently stronger digimon. Zapmon probably wouldn't fair much better, but she wasn't about to go down without a fight so it was worth a shot.

Electricity crackled along Zapmon's forearms as she projected it on Deltamon from distance, "Silver Lightning!"

As might have been expected, the big blue dragon barely even felt it. Zapmon shrunk back a little when Deltamon didn't even flinch at her attack.

"It's no good," Slashmon warned her. "We might have to make a run for it."

Zapmon shook her head in protest, "Where could we run? Let's try combining our attacks."

Of course, she was really hoping that Crystal would be able to figure out the Xros Loader to help them before it was too late.

* * *

Crystal had been staring intently at the gadget in her hand expecting that maybe it would do something, but nothing seemed to be happening. When she peaked over the top of the boulders she was hiding behind in the canyon she saw the big blue dragon preparing to fire off another beam. It looked like Zapmon and Slashmon were standing in the path of where the beam would hit trying to prepare a counter attack, but it was looking pretty hopeless.

"They've been protecting me since I got here," Crystal started mumbling to herself. The last thing she wanted was to be a burden on them. "There's no way I'm letting this place turn me into some pathetic damsel in distress."

She maneuvered around the boulders and started back toward where the fighting was taking place. Zapmon and Slashmon were too preoccupied with trying to hold back Deltamon's attack to realize she was coming. If they had noticed one or both of them would have been yelling at her to stop it. Crystal wouldn't have cared. She knew what she was doing was kind of reckless.

The Xros Loader finally started to respond. And that was when Crystal heard the strange voice once again.

_"Use this Xros Loader."_

The screen on the device lit up and the upper panel popped up to uncover a yellow v-shaped symbol that had been concealed underneath. Crystal had played enough video games to put together an educated guess of what needed to happen next. She kind of figured that since she was already taking orders from a disembodied voice it really wasn't too much of a stretch for her to use video games as a guideline for what she had to do. After all, it kind of fit with her present surroundings.

She held out her hand so that the screen on the Xros Loader was facing Zapmon and Slashmon. She was vaguely aware that she had become surrounded by a silver glow when she shouted, **"Digi Xros!"** Since that was what Zapmon had mentioned before, she assumed those would be the right words for it.

It must have worked because the digimon in question immediately became engulfed by a silver aura. Slashmon was simultaneously engulfed by a fiery golden aura. The two digimon engulfed in light shot into the sky and eventually slammed together into a single entity. The creature that emerged was a somewhat larger dragon with a combination of features from both of its component digimon. It had black scales interlaced with a pattern of crimson stripes shaped like bolts of lightning. The new dragon was roughly seven feet tall and perhaps nine feet in length from its snout to the tip of its tail. It had retained Zapmon's more humanoid hands and silver claws, but had also inherited Slashmon's metallic horns. To round it all of, the new dragon had silver eyes and an impressive draconic wingspan with scales fading from gold to crimson.

The newly generated digimon quickly turned on Deltamon. Gururumon, Raptordramon, Lighdramon and Togemogumon instinctively backed down from their respective opponents to get out of range. This new digimon seemed to be radiating with raw power and none of them wanted to get in the way.

The dragon spread its wings and took to the sky, already innately in tune with its new-found capacity for flight. Then it spread its jaws and exclaimed, **"Pulse Blaster!"** as it exhaled a resonating prismatic shockwave that made quick work of Deltamon and the horde of Tuskmon that had accompanied the large blue dragon. With its purpose fulfilled, the new digimon became engulfed in light once again splitting into the silver aura and golden aura that quickly assumed the familiar forms of Zapmon and Slashmon.

"That was _awesome_!" Zapmon beamed enthusiastically.

Slashmon whistled appreciatively at the empty space their antagonists had previously occupied, "That could come in handy."

And just like that the battle was over. Crystal was still trying to wrap her head around what had happened.

* * *

With nowhere else to go, Crystal accepted Zapmon's invitation to go with her and the other digimon back to their village at the other end of the canyon. There were still a lot of questions she wanted to ask about this _Digital World_ and the _digimon_ that seemed to inhabit it. The thought of finding a way to get back home was surprisingly far from her mind. This place was just too interesting.

**To Be Continued... Well, Maybe.**

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**Author's Notes: Just don't be counting on it.


	3. Part 3

Author's Notes: This was when I finally got up the gumption to bring in some of the official characters. I was kind of nervous about it since the series is still in progress and I don't really know everything about them. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun dreaming up this location. I also enjoyed making thinly veiled references to previous entries in the Digimon franchise. I'm sure some of you who decide to read through this might be able to spot them.

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Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

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| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 3 **_|

Approximately three months had passed since Crystal's arrival in the digital world. In that time she had easily adjusted to her new life as a resident of the Resort Zone.

It is probably easiest to understand the Resort Zone as a floating continent. An island in the sky with spectacular waterfalls, hot springs, and an enormous lake at its center. The mountains surrounding these features have been carved out into luxury hotels to take full advantage of the natural aesthetic beauty of the environment. The continent itself floats above an enclosed valley with a narrow canyon as the only access from the outlying region. Water from the floating continent collects underneath to form a secondary lake at ground level, although it also seems that some of those waterfalls are actually flowing upward to bring water up to the floating continent so it kind of balances out.

The floating continent was, or rather had been, under attack which was why Crystal, along with the small black dragon known as Zapmon, was racing along the valley floor riding Lighdramon while being pursued by a Megadramon and a Gigadramon in the shadow of the continent. To an onlooker it would have looked like they were being chased, which was true, but it was also how they wanted it because it meant the enemy digimon weren't blasting the resort to get to them. It was also about the time that a portal materialized to drop the members of team Xros Heart into what, for their steadily increasing numbers, constituted a new zone. It also meant that they had no idea that the situation was presently under control.

"It looks like this zone is in trouble too," Shoutmon observed. There was a brief pause when he realized that the fleeing digimon was with another human. "Wait, there's a human over there too."

"In any case," Taiki had already made his decision. "We should go help them."

This plan of action was cut short when Lighdramon came to a halt and spun around to face his pursuers. Crystal quickly dismounted along with Zapmon before retrieving her silver Xros Loader from its holster.

"So you've finally stopped running," Megadramon hissed antagonistically.

"It's about time," Gigadramon continued with added menace. "It's not like you could have outrun us forever."

"As if," Crystal knew the two cyberized wyverns were only trying to bait her. "We only ran because we knew you would chase us." She held out the Xros Loader, "Reload Gururumon!"

"Another Xros Loader?" Akari voiced what had already caught the rest of the group's attention.

"Then she must be a general," noted Dorulumon.

"Should we still help them?" Shoutmon was getting impatient with being on standby.

"What if she turns out to be another rival?" Zenjirou noted uncertainly.

"It looks like they know what they're doing," Taiki observed quietly. "Still, I think we should help out if it gets out of hand."

**"Zapmon, Gururumon, Lighdramon!"** Crystal, thoroughly unaware of her observers, continued as if her dialogue hadn't been disrupted after the above witty banter. **"Digi Xros!"**

Zapmon struck a dramatic pose as her small frame became surrounded by silver light. **"Zapmon!"**

Gururumon struck one of his own as he became surrounded by blue-white light. **"Gururumon!"**

And Lighdramon finished with one of his own as he became surrounded by electric blue light. **"Lighdramon!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The three eventually came together, colliding in midair. **"X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode!"**

X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode had the torso of an anthropomorphized Gururumon. The fur on each of its legs eventually transitioned into a pair of three-toed, silver-clawed, black-scaled draconic talons with silver and gold lightning bolt patterned stripes. The fur on each of its arms eventually transitioned into a pair of five-fingered, black-scaled, humanoid hands with a pattern of silver and gold lightning bolt patterned stripes. Each finger ended in a pointed silver claw. Its tail was also distinctly black-scaled and reptilian with silver and gold lightning bolt patterned stripes. Its draconic, black-scaled face with a pattern of silver and gold lightning bolt patterned stripes was covered by Lighdramon's armored mask with a pair of horns the same black color as its scales protruding from the back of its head. Its chest was covered by a section of black armor with downward facing lightning bolt shaped spikes that would have been on Lighdramon's back, its shoulders were covered by sections of black armor with a rectangular patch of red that would have been on Lighdramon's front legs, and its knees were covered by sections of black armor with a ridged, rectangular gray portion that would have been on Lighdramon's hind legs. X-Zapdramon Fight Mode's silver eyes were visible between the slits in its armored facial mask. X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode also had a pair of draconic wings extending from its shoulder blades fading from gold to blue to white giving it an impressive wingspan.

X-Zapdramon swiftly took to the sky. Within seconds it had snagged Megadramon by the tail and flung the cyberized wyvern against companion effectively sending both aerial combatants off balance. This was followed by X-Zapdramon producing an electrical field from its body with an exclamation of **"Electric Burst!"** as the electricity that had been emitted collided with the two awkwardly tangled, cyberized wyverns. Megadramon and Gigadramon were blasted into the mountains along the edge of the canyon roughly a kilometer away. Once the two of them managed to pull themselves from the rubble they made a hasty retreat exiting the valley through the canyon.

"Alright," Crystal nodded in approval. "They probably won't be back for at least a couple of hours which means we've got until then to take it easy."

X-Zapdramon landed nearby and quickly reverted into its composite digimon.

"And that marks another victory for Team Epoch," Zapmon practically beamed with enthusiasm.

"That was great you guys!" A Fan Beemon buzzed over to congratulate them. "By the way, while you guys were fighting it looks like we got some newcomers from another zone." The insect digimon gave Crystal a meaningful look. "You might want to address this yourself because it looked like there were other humans with them."

"Thanks Fan Beemon," Crystal answered thoughtfully. "I suppose I should welcome them. Just point us in the right direction."

Fan Beemon obliged by pointing in the direction where the members of team Xros Heart had emerged from the portal. Crystal spotted them easily enough and taking stock of how many were in their group added, "Think you can do me a favor and get Imperialdramon to pick us up?"

"Certainly," Fan Beemon answered delightedly. Apparently for Fan Beemon it was always a joy to have a job that needed to be done. The insect digimon got its wings going and took to air as it headed for the floating continent.

Crystal brushed a hand through her bangs. "Okay then, I guess now it's my turn."

* * *

It only took a few seconds for Crystal to return Gururumon to her Xros Loader so she and Zapmon could both hitch a ride on Lighdramon again. After that it only took a few minutes for them to get in proximity to the members of team Xros Heart. They would know Crystal and her digimon companions were coming. It couldn't have been more obvious unless they had plastered themselves with neon signs before making their approach. Lighdramon came to a stop several meters from the newcomers to let Crystal dismount so she could try to communicate that they didn't mean any harm so they could avoid an unnecessary confrontation. At least they seemed reasonable enough.

"Sorry if I scared you guys," Crystal started hesitantly. If anything, the fact that Zapmon had chosen to climb onto the girl's shoulders for a perch probably succeeded at making her look pretty harmless. "I'm not very good at this, but I'd like to welcome you all to the Resort Zone."

Zapmon decided to take it from there, "You'll have to forgive our general. She hasn't been around other humans for awhile."

"Well I guess this means we don't have to worry about you being another rival," Zenjirou was quick to abandon his suspicions. "You know, you're pretty cute up close."

Crystal brought a palm to her forehead, "Just don't get any ideas."

She lowered her hand and paused briefly as she gave Taiki a once over. "Alright, this is definitely going to sound weird because I know we've never met before, but I feel like I know you somehow."

"Wait," Taiki seemed surprised. "You too?"

Crystal brushed a hand through her bangs again. "I think my intuition has been on overdrive since I got here. Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression."

"It's okay," Taiki was understandably confused by the discrepancy between the girl's fighting skills and her personality. Even so he smiled reassuringly. "You seem like a good person."

"It's nice to finally meet someone straightforward who isn't trying to pick a fight," Akari had to agree.

"Well," Crystal grinned sheepishly. "I didn't feel any malicious intent from you guys so I figured it would be alright for us to trust you." She paused and added, "Anyway, my ride should be along shortly. So, if you don't mind, we can continue this discussion topside."

Zenjirou immediately paled and pointed accusingly at the floating continent that loomed above them. "Wait, you don't mean we're going up there, do you?"

"Afraid of heights, huh?" Zapmon chimed in rather unhelpfully. "Just stay away from the edge and you'll never know the difference."

At that precise instant an enormous blue dragon clad in white and gold armor materialized several meters in the air a short distance from them. An onlooker would probably be feeling hard pressed to believe that they hadn't seen something like that coming. In this case, that onlooker turned out to be Zenjirou.

"Where did that come from!" he exclaimed uneasily.

"This is Imperialdramon," Crystal explained. "You won't find a faster flying digimon in the entire digital world. This is also the easiest way to get all of us up to the resort at the same time."

Zenjirou was about to stage another protest, but it was already too late. Imperialdramon had already used his tractor beam to lift everyone into the force field on his back before taking flight. In the next instant it was letting them off somewhere near the heart of the floating continent even though it felt like they had moved without actually moving.

"Thanks for the lift," Crystal waved off Imperialdramon as the large dragon took off to attend to other matters. She wasn't too surprised to find that her new companions were rather speechless at their new surroundings.

"This place is incredible!" Shoutmon definitely seemed to approve.

"But what exactly are we doing here?" Akari demanded.

"You guys came here for the Code Crown, right?" Crystal sounded entirely unconcerned by this knowledge.

"You know about that?" Shoutmon was more appropriately alarmed by this.

"Sort of," Crystal responded. "According to Slashmon, there's a prophecy about a legendary general who will arrive to unify the digital world and bring peace to the numerous zones. And he's supposed to be accompanied by a red dragon."

"You've got to be kidding." It was Akari's turn to disapprove. "Please tell me you're making that up."

Crystal was actually mildly amused by that accusation. "I can't actually read the digital world's hieroglyphs. I'm just taking Slashmon's word for it since it makes about as much sense as everything else that's happened since I came here. If you'd rather take it up with him, then I can take you to him."

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Part 4

Author's Notes: The narrative calls the shots. I had hoped this would be the final chapter, but it stretched out long enough that it necessitated being split into two. The finale is where things really got ridiculous.

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Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

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| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 4 **_|

Further discussion of the strange prophecy was delayed when Crystal was knocked on her back by a speeding Chibimon. The enthusiastic little blue dragon began hopping up and down on the girl's stomach while the members of team Xros Heart looked on and Zapmon was sent sprawling from her perch on Crystal's shoulders from the sudden impact.

"You really sent those bad guys packing again, didn't you?" Chibimon beamed proudly. "I knew you guys could take 'em."

"Something like that," Crystal laughed. She lifted the small dragon off of her and set him down next to her so she could sit up.

Chibimon finally seemed to realize that Crystal had brought back more than just the usual return party. "Hey, you brought other humans back with you this time. Does that mean we've made some new friends?"

"Maybe," Crystal ran a hand through her hair uncertainly. "I mean, we've only just met. I'm taking them to meet Slashmon."

It became apparent that Chibimon hadn't come alone. Akari was already fawning over a Nyaromon and there were also several Koromon, Tsunomon and Petitmon assembled around them.

"It looks like there are a lot of young digimon in this zone," Taiki observed.

Zapmon was back on her feet after having been indignantly sprawled on the ground. "Which is why we have to fight extra hard to protect them."

"But wouldn't that be easier if you had the Code Crown?" Akari remarked.

Crystal moved herself into a cross-legged position. "Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work like that. Even though we know where it is, the Code Crown for this zone didn't resonate with me." She paused as she pushed herself onto her feet without bothering to use her hands. She dusted herself off and continued. "It kind of felt like it was waiting for someone else."

"And you think it's Taiki," Shoutmon finished for her sounding expectant. The way he said it mostly just caused Taiki to become a little embarrassed.

"That's what we're going to find out," Crystal responded. She looked to Chibimon, "Do you know if Slashmon is still at the shrine by the lake?"

Chibimon nodded vigorously, "I saw him consulting with Plesiomon."

"Alright, then that's where we're going," Crystal concluded. "Try to stay out of trouble until I get back."

* * *

The shrine was a fairly typical crumbling stone building with an ornate statue of Qinglongmon adorning its roof. In the places where the walls were still more intact there were hieroglyphs some of which formed patterns that looked like writing in some kind of foreign alphabet while others were simply pixelated representations of various digimon. There was even more writing preserved on the inside.

Plesiomon was easy enough to spot at a distance because of her large size, even as she craned her neck to converse with the much smaller raptor-like digimon known as Slashmon. As Crystal, with Zapmon once again perched on her shoulders to hitch a ride, approached with the members of team Xros Heart the large aquatic digimon dove under and disappeared beneath the surface of the central lake.

"Hey Slashmon," Zapmon called from her perch. "Crystal thinks we might have found the legendary general!"

"We'll see about that," Slashmon responded as he made his own way over to them. "But first, get down from there. How many times do I have to tell you that it makes our general look entirely undignified."

Zapmon shrugged. "She doesn't mind."

"That doesn't mean you have to take advantage of her like this," Slashmon retorted. Once he was close enough he reached up with a clawed hand to grab Zapmon around one of her legs and then proceeded to yank her down so that he could hold her at arm's length upside down. "Besides, it makes you an easy target."

"Hey! Cut it out! Put me down!" Zapmon flailed in protest. Slashmon obliged by releasing her leg. Zapmon winced as she hit the ground. "Alright, maybe I shouldn't have said it like that."

"That's Slashmon?" Akari sounded skeptical.

"Unless there's another digimon in the vicinity that I haven't yet been made aware of with the same designation, that would be me," Slashmon answered. "Now, let's see about this legendary general Crystal has brought us." He gave the group a once over and then locked his eyes on Taiki. "I see, so this is the legendary general entrusted with the red Xros Loader who will eventually bring peace to this world and he matches the description perfectly. He's even wearing goggles!"

Zapmon rubbed her head as she got back on her feet. "You didn't have to drop me from so high up you know." She obviously wasn't paying attention to the discussion anymore.

"That's my general," Shoutmon was unnecessarily impressed by Taiki's apparent rise to fame in this new zone. Taiki himself was at a loss for words even as he kept letting himself get herded along.

"This is crazy," Akari wasn't buying it. "Why would a prophecy even bother mentioning something like that?"

Slashmon gave her a fangy grin. "Would you like to see for yourself?"

He led them into the shrine. The pictographs on the far wall clearly resembled the digimon that were assembled with team Xros Heart with a similarly pixelated human figure among them that certainly resembled Taiki, goggles and all. There were also representations of numerous digimon not yet present within team Xros Heart although they were all gathered around Taiki and a fairly obvious representation of Shoutmon X4.

"Wait," Taiki was staring at the images on the wall. "I've seen some of these digimon before. They were in my dream!"

"Perhaps you saw a vision of the future," Slashmon suggested. "No doubt, you still have a long journey ahead of you."

"I'm in the prophecy too!" Shoutmon was busy admiring himself.

"How is this even possible?" Akari demanded. "Where did this prophecy come from?"

"I'm sure you've probably noticed by now that this digital world responds to human emotions," Slashmon explained. "If those emotions are strong enough, then they have the power to change the world. The digital world has historically reached out to those with strong hearts to correct the imbalances that arise between this world and the human world. Humans and digimon both have the potential for good or evil. Light or darkness. It is difficult to anticipate which path will ultimately be chosen."

"This prophecy might be set in stone," Zapmon continued, "but the future isn't."

"Even so," Crystal concluded. "We're still kind of hoping that it will turn out to be true."

"Is this why the digimon in other zones we've been to have been so eager to meet the legendary general?" Zenjirou wondered aloud.

"It's possible," Slashmon confirmed. "With the state of things in this world as it is now, many have been hoping for a savior to appear. However, according to the prophecy, a certain digimon has been striving to _become_ that savior, but that digimon couldn't achieve it on his own. And, of course, that digimon was Shoutmon." He paused and added, "That was the reason I told Crystal to keep a lookout for a boy accompanied by a red dragon." He clasped his claws together. "In any case, I have made you listen to my ramblings long enough. The Code Crown is hidden in a cavern beneath the lake where it is being guarded by Volcdramon. I shall have Plesiomon to take you there as soon as possible."

* * *

"Don't let what Slashmon says get to you," Zapmon started once they were back outside. "There's no pressure. Nobody expects you to do this all on your own. Lots of digimon want you guys to succeed and we're all eager to help." She prodded Crystal experimentally with a claw. "Certain humans too."

"You can stop putting words in my mouth," Crystal responded. "I can speak for myself."

"But you won't because you're shy," Zapmon countered.

"I... I'm not _that_ bad," Crystal returned.

"You two seem pretty close," Cutemon observed.

"Say Crystal," Akari was curious. "How long have you been in the digital world anyway?"

"About three months I guess," Crystal answered automatically. "I'm sure I've probably lost track by now."

Plesiomon had returned to the surface to converse with Slashmon. It wouldn't be much longer until team Xros Heart could be sent on their way.

"And this is where we part ways," Crystal announced matter-of-factly.

"You aren't coming with us?" Taiki began to protest.

"Nope," Crystal responded. "I need to be on the surface in case those goons from before decide to come back with reinforcements. Besides, I don't do well with large bodies of water."

"In that case I guess we're just going to have to come back to help you fight once we get the Code Crown," Taiki decided automatically.

"There he goes again," Akari sighed.

* * *

After that the members of team Xros Heart boarded Plesiomon's back where they were subsequently covered by a large air bubble that would enable them to breathe even under water. Before Plesiomon set off, Slashmon decided to give them one last piece of advice.

"Do yourselves a favor and try not to offend Volcdramon," he cautioned them.

**To Be Continued...**


	5. Part 5

Additional Author's Notes: This chapter is basically pure, unrelenting overkill. This is what happens when anyone lets me manipulate events in any incarnation of the digital world. At least, when I'm not preoccupied with sorting out the relationship polygons. Personally, I find the battle choreography to be a lot more fun.

* * *

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 5**_ |

Plesiomon took the plunge into the hidden depths of the lake situated in the middle of the floating continent of the Resort Zone with the members of team Xros Heart struggling to remain standing on her back. The light from the surface gradually faded until it was extinguished completely when the aquatic digimon maneuvered into an underwater tunnel that was gradually illuminated again as they approached the interior cavern. When Plesiomon surfaced it became readily apparent that the source of this new illumination was none other than Volcdramon himself. The glow of the magma visible between the gaps of jagged volcanic rock that comprised the dragon's body danced along the walls of the cavern as well as the surface of the water emerging from the underground tunnel much like the flickering flames of a very large bonfire. It was also very hot.

"Is it always this hot down here?" Zenjirou complained for the group.

"Oh, it has to be," Plesiomon assured him. "Volcdramon heats all the water for the surface hot springs."

Taiki was impressed. "That's pretty amazing in itself."

"More humans? I would assume that Slashmon sent you down here," Volcdramon's voice echoed throughout the cavern.

"That's right," Shoutmon took over from there. "He told us to come down here for the Code Crown."

"I see," Volcdramon spoke more gently. "So tell me, what are your intentions for this world?"

Shoutmon made a gesture to indicate Taiki. "Taiki is our general. We're trying to prevent the Bagura Empire from taking over so that peace can be restored to the digital world."

Taiki nodded, "That's more or less it."

The fierce looking dragon known as Volcadramon gave them a measuring glance. He let the silence stretch for several long seconds before he finally acknowledged them. "Very well. If Slashmon and that girl he sent down here before believe in you, then it must be true."

There was a familiar golden glow as the Code Crown for the Resort Zone emerged from one of the miniature volcanoes along Volcdramon's back. It made a dramatic show of levitating over to Taiki before resolving itself into a cartridge in his hand.

"Thank you Volcdramon," Taiki expressed his gratitude to the dragon digimon.

Volcdramon nodded and directed his attention to Plesiomon, "Give my regards to Slashmon. I certainly hope he turns out to be right about this group."

* * *

After all that Plesiomon transported the group out of the underground cavern and back to the surface of the lake. Just a few minutes in that superheated underground cavern was enough to make them all grateful to be back out in the sun. Slashmon was there waiting for them once they reached shore.

"It looks to me like Volcdramon decided not to give you guys any trouble," the raptor-like digimon observed.

Taiki nodded. "It seemed like you and Crystal must have had something to do with it."

Slashmon scratched at his chin with a claw. "I suppose she must have made a good impression when she met him. I don't typically go down there since I really don't like water very much."

"Then what are you doing at a hot spring resort?" Akari demanded.

Slashmon gave her a fangy grin. "I just run the place. I don't swim in it."

"Where did Crystal go anyway?" Taiki asked changing the subject.

"That's right," Shoutmon added. "I would have figured she would be here waiting for us with Zapmon."

"They didn't go far," Slashmon informed them. He pointed to a spot a short distance from the lake where there was a circle of evenly spaced trees around a fairly ordinary looking park fountain aside from the fact that the statue on display in the middle was in the shape of three clashing Depthmon launching water into the air. Crystal was lying on her back along the edge of the fountain apparently staring up at the sky. "Crystal thinks those enemies that attacked before will be back again in greater numbers so she's trying to conserve her energy in case another fight breaks out."

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Akari noted giving Taiki a meaningful glance. "You could learn something from this."

Taiki rubbed the back of his neck looking a little uneasy. He had a pretty good idea what she was talking about.

* * *

Crystal immediately sat up when a glint of metal caught her eye behind some clouds. In another instant she was on her feet with Xros Loader in hand. Zapmon, who had been keeping an eye out from one of the surrounding trees, descended from her perch to dash to the girl's side.

"They came back sooner than I had expected," Crystal stated simply. She held out her silver Xros Loader. "Reload, Thunderbirmon!"

The electrical armored bird took shape in the sky above them and Crystal began rattling off instructions. "I want you to rendezvous with the Fan Beemon. Tell them to split up to rally the rest of our forces and collect a provisional tally of enemy numbers so we know what we're up against. And one more thing-ask Gryphomon to get ready for me. I've got a feeling I might have to do some flying this time."

"Understood," the avian digimon took off to fulfill his purpose.

"It sounds like you're expecting a lot of them," Zapmon commented uncertainly.

Crystal nodded. "They might be after Taiki and his friends. You know what that means, don't you?"

"No more holding back," Zapmon smirked as she cracked her knuckles.

* * *

The two of them opted to regroup with Slashmon before continuing on to join the fray which was how they were inevitably reunited with the members of team Xros Heart. It didn't take long for one of the Fan Beemon to arrive to report on the number of enemies that had been sighted approaching the resort.

"Land forces are primarily comprised of excessive numbers of Deltamon, Tuskmon and Troopmon. Air forces are comprised primarily of Devidramon and Pteranomon accompanied by Megadramon and Gigadramon. It looks like Megidramon is leading the attack with the air forces," Fan Beemon buzzed hurriedly.

"Megidramon might pose a problem," Crystal acknowledged with her fists clenched at her sides. "Cannondramon should be able to thin down the land forces, but he's going to need some support to pick off the stragglers that manage to get by. We should get Hououmon to assist us with the air forces..." She trailed off to consider Taiki's team. "You guys should get out of here while we keep them distracted."

"We aren't leaving," Taiki shot back at her. "I said we'd help you guys fight. You know these digimon better than we do so just tell us the best way to handle them and we'll back you up."

"I uh..." Crystal forgot what she was going to say for a second before her brain remembered to catch up with her mouth again. "Alright then. We can worry about the land forces once we take out Megidramon and the rest of his air forces since they can cause the most damage to the resort. How are you guys at aerial combat?"

Taiki hesitated. "I guess we really haven't dealt with many flying opponents yet."

"So basically you haven't sorted out a Digi Xros that can handle sustained flight," Crystal finished for him. "We just need to find you a decent pair of wings. And I know just the thing." She returned her attention to Fan Beemon. "Change of plans, go get Imperialdramon."

Fan Beemon nodded and hurried off.

"Wait, you don't mean that huge dragon from before?" Zenjirou recalled his anxiety from that earlier flight.

"Don't worry," Zapmon assured him. "This time you won't have to ride on him."

* * *

When Imperialdramon arrived moments later it seemed that Taiki and Crystal had already Digi Xrossed their respective teams of digimon into Shoutmon X4 and X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode with a slight modification on Crystal's part in that Raptordramon had been attached to X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode's right arm in the form of a crossbow appropriately classified as the Dragon Crossbow. With the arrival of Imperialdramon, Taiki knew exactly what to do.

**"Shoutmon X4, Imperialdramon! Digi Xros!"** he activated his red Xros Loader to take care of the rest.

The overall effect was that Shoutmon X4 gained an impressive pair of white draconic wings while the Star Sword transformed into something reminiscent of the Omega Blade. **"Shoutmon X4 Paladin!"**

Gryphomon arrived as per Crystal's earlier request and the girl quickly mounted the phantom beast digimon fully intent on monitoring the course of battle by following along in the sky.

"We'll go on ahead," she was about to signal Gryphomon to take flight when Slashmon stopped her.

"Hold that thought," he interrupted her. "I have something else you might need."

Slashmon disappeared into the shrine for all of a few seconds before returning with a set of four cartridges between his claws.

"DigiMemories?" Taiki immediately recognized them for what they were.

Slashmon nodded before handing them over. He made a point of indicating the two bearing images of Victory Greymon and Z'd Garurumon. "These should be used together."

Taiki nodded and pocketed them before climbing onto Gryphomon with Crystal. "In that case, I should probably go with you."

"Right," Crystal got the impression that she should have seen this coming. "You're going to want to hang on tight."

* * *

They certainly weren't alone in the aerial battle. A number of winged dragons were being led into battle by Thunderbirmon and Hououmon. Megadramon, Gigadramon and the numerous Pteranomon on the opposing side were letting missiles fly with reckless abandon, but the flying dragons and avian digimon defending the resort countered with blasts of lightning and fire. Meanwhile, on the ground, Cannondramon was thoroughly decimating the opposing land forces with a variety of land dwelling dragons and assorted beast digimon to pick off anything that managed to get around his attacks.

"Thousand Arrow Storm!" X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode made use of the Dragon Crossbow to target multiple enemies simultaneously with small, concentrated energy darts to create an opening for Shoutmon X4 Paladin to strike down Megidramon with his newly upgraded sword.

However, Megidramon was quick to counter with his devastating Megido Flame attack. Then, to make matters worse, he began absorbing his fallen and wounded subordinates assimilating metallic armor and missile ports along with extending the length of his deadly claws. Megidramon unleashed a barrage of missiles in a multitude of directions while also swiping at nearby digimon in range of his claws.

X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode took a hit that effectively broke the Digi Xros splitting it into its component digimon. Hououmon was able to swoop in to retrieve Zapmon, Gururumon, Lighdramon, and Raptordramon once they were no longer able to fly. Gryphomon took evasive action and was able to deflect incoming missiles with the shockwave produced by his Super Sonic Voice attack.

"That was rough," Crystal grumbled once Gryphomon had maneuvered into a more stable flight position. "We can't let him do that again."

"Maybe we should use the DigiMemories Slashmon gave us," Taiki suggested. After all, he was the one carrying them.

"I suppose it's worth a shot," Crystal agreed. Taiki seemed to know what he was talking about so she wasn't about to argue with him anyway.

"Here," he handed her the one with Z'd Garurumon on it while keeping the one with Victory Greymon for himself. "He did say these should be used together."

"I get it," Crystal took the cartridge and readied her Xros Loader. "That was the reason you decided to fly out here with me."

"More or less," Taiki admitted readying his own Xros Loader. "Let's see what these are capable of."

He inserted the DigiMemory of Victory Greymon into the corresponding cartridge port on his Xros Loader. _**"Trident Gaia!"**_

_**"Full Metal Blaze!"**_ Crystal did the same with the DigiMemory of Z'd Garurumon.

And then together they declared, _**"Activate!"**_

The result was that the holographic representation of Victory Greymon deconstructed its massive sword into components that were then integrated into the armor on its arms. Victory Greymon then began accumulating atmospheric energy into those components while Z'd Garurumon locked onto Megidramon with every weapon it has. Megidramon prepared to counter with another barrage of missiles and claw swipes, but even then he wasn't ready to withstand the full force of Victory Greymon and Z'd Garurumon's combined attacks fired simultaneously. The joint attack from Victory Greymon and Z'd Garurumon easily broke through Megidramon's assault leaving the enemy digimon both singed and open for attack.

As the holographic representations of Victory Greymon and Z'd Garurumon faded from the battlefield Shoutmon X4 Paladin used the opportunity to finish Megidramon off by striking the demonic dragon with his upgraded sword. The strike produced a rapid chain of explosions originating at the point of impact and quickly extending to envelope Megidramon's already damaged body in an even larger explosion. The overall impact was made all the more dramatic by the fact that Shoutmon X4 Paladin emerged from the opposite side of the explosive shockwave as he followed through with his initial slashing motion. With Megidramon summarily defeated Shoutmon X4 Paladin reverted back into his component digimon with Imperialdramon swiftly retrieving the rest with his tractor beam before they could fall out of the air.

* * *

Once the fighting was over they were all brought back to the shrine by the lake where the others were waiting for them with Taiki and Crystal both staggering off of Gryphomon's back in an exhausted heap.

"I seem to have misplaced my center of gravity again," was Crystal's first line of defense.

"Or maybe you're just tired," Akari was used to this from Taiki although it didn't stop her from thinking, _Oh great, now there are two of them._

"That too," Crystal conceded. "It's a good thing we're at a resort."

* * *

Of course, once everyone had gotten a proper rest, it came to be time for them to part ways. At least, that was what Crystal kept trying to tell herself.

"You aren't coming with us?" Taiki wasn't willing to accept it.

"I promised to protect this place," Crystal tried to formulate a viable excuse. "I can't do that if I'm not here."

"That's enough," Slashmon decided to intervene. "Crystal, you should go with them if you want to. Now that Taiki has this zone's Code Crown it isn't in any danger anymore."

"You've got that right," Zapmon nodded adamantly. "We all know this kid is going to get into a lot more trouble and I have no intention of playing it safe by sitting out of all the fighting."

"Zapmon," Crystal started hesitantly. "I guess the rest of the team feels the same way, huh?"

Zapmon pointed at her accusingly. "Don't think it's just us. You're only kidding yourself if you keep telling yourself you aren't feeling it too."

Crystal sighed in defeat. "That's true."

"You can come back here anytime you like," Slashmon assured her. "Nevertheless, legendary general or not, Taiki could use the extra help and you know it. You really won't be getting in the way."

Crystal brought a palm to her forehead. "Alright, I get it already. Sheesh, you don't have to try so hard. I'll go already!"

**The End... For This Story Arc, At Least.**

**

* * *

**Author's Notes: I would just like to note that if anything like this actually happens in-series that I take absolutely no responsibility for it.

* * *

Additional Author's Notes: And there you have it. Not bad for my first endeavor at a Digimon Xros Wars fanfic. Or maybe I should just stick to role-playing. In any case, I wanted to finish this before NaNoWriMo since I probably won't be churning anything else out until after November.

Keep in mind that "Believe me, I want to help, but canonically I don't exist" would have been an equally valid excuse for Crystal to stay behind, but it really just doesn't work as well in the presence of the fourth wall. Besides, I already tried that excuse on my friends and all they did was yell at me for it.


	6. Part 6

Additional Author's Notes: Because this chapter seemed oddly self serving I decided to hold off on submitting it here until I had a few more chapters that didn't exist solely for my own satisfaction. Hopefully they will have been worth the wait.

* * *

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 6 **_|

_"I guess this is it for me..."_ The faint voice was accompanied by a broken sounding melody. It sounded weak and faraway. Of course, only Taiki and Crystal actually heard it.

"Where are-" Taiki started, having immediately realized that it was the melody of a dying digimon somewhere nearby, but he was cut off by Crystal.

"Black Fladramon," she spoke softly, having recognized the voice. Black Fladramon must have been one of her companions. Crystal didn't waste any time. "Imperialdramon!" she called for the enormous flying dragon that as an aerial transport for the residents of the Resort Zone. "Take me to where Black Fladramon was fighting! And hurry!"

"We're coming too," Taiki decided without pausing to consult with the rest of his team. Since he and Crystal were _both_ hearing things that Akari and Zenjirou were oblivious to, neither of them seemed to be inclined to argue about it. In the next instant they were all beamed onto Imperialdramon's back as the enormous dragon sped out over the canyon between the mountains that surrounded the valley beneath the floating island of the Resort Zone.

"Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon's voice boomed through the air as the cannon mounted between its wings fired off a spiraling beam that split off in multiple directions to take out the stragglers from Megidramon's army that were still in the area. After that Imperialdramon beamed the rest of them down into the mouth of the canyon while it continued to hover overhead.

Crystal rushed over to the fading form of the injured digimon known as Black Fladramon and quickly loaded him into her Xros Loader for recovery. It seemed like they had barely made it.

"Thank goodness," Akari was relieved that the worst of it was over. "We made it."

"You should have just let them kill me," Black Fladramon's voice came from inside of Crystal's Xros Loader. "I failed to prevent Megidramon's land troops from making it into the valley."

"Don't say stuff like that!" Crystal shouted back at him. "You did the best you could even though we were severely outnumbered. I'm just glad you're alive. Besides," she paused and lowered her voice, "if anyone is to blame for this, it's me for hesitating to use lethal force against the enemy."

Black Fladramon became immediately apologetic. "Don't say that. That kindhearted attitude is part of why we respect you. Anyway," he added, "my life is no longer in any danger so you can go ahead and let me out of here."

"Right," Crystal responded. She held her Xros Loader out in front of her. "Reload! Black Fladramon!"

The flame armored dragon man digimon materialized and was immediately pounced by Zapmon. "Sheesh, don't go worrying Crystal like that!"

Black Fladramon snorted at the smaller dragon. "I guess this means that _you_ were worried too."

"As if," Zapmon hastily denied the accusation. "I just can't stand to see Crystal get all upset."

* * *

Once that was over, Imperialdramon flew everyone back to the floating island at the heart of the valley beyond the canyon. It was generally decided that the members of Xros Heart who were present would remain in the Resort Zone for the night to get some rest. Crystal was taking that time to decide which digimon to bring with her if she decided to join them. Of course, the digimon she had already been utilizing in combat were taking it upon themselves to make that decision for her by sparring amongst themselves.

Black Fladramon seemed to be an advocate of intensive training because he was pitting himself against the combined forces of Gururumon, Lighdramon, Raptordramon and Togemogumon. When Togemogumon opened with a barrage of the crystalline icy quills launched from its back, Black Fladramon swatted them down with his claws. When Gururumon and Lighdramon ganged up on him by combining Gururumon's purple flame breath and the blue electricity produced from the lightning bolt shaped spines on Lighdramon's back, Black Fladramon shielded himself by engulfing his own body in crimson flames. And when Raptordramon charged at him, Black Fladramon strained to hold his ground as he locked his claws against the black armor that covered most of Raptordramon's body. In the next instant Black Fladramon used the other digimon's forward momentum to lift Raptordramon up off the ground, tossing the other digimon into the air behind him. It didn't look like any of them were holding back.

"Are they always like this?" Akari was staring.

"Always," Crystal confirmed. "Black Fladramon takes his losses very personally. They might be going at it for hours. Don't worry though, they'll be alright."

"Anyway," Slashmon interrupted. "Since this _is_ the Resort Zone and you all are going to spending the night here, might I recommend taking advantage of our recreational facilities while you're here?"

"What sort of recreational facilities?" Taiki wondered aloud.

"I think he means the hot springs," Crystal clarified.

"That's right," Akari realized. "This is supposed to be a hot spring resort. Now that we have time to take a break, we should definitely spend some time in them."

"And since we've already gotten rid of the Bagra Empire's army in this Zone we don't have to worry about being attacked like the last time," noted Shoutmon.

* * *

That was how everyone else ended up spending the evening in the hot springs. The boys were separated from the girls by a dividing wall, with the digimon distributed accordingly. Bastemon was lounging on a large, heated rock on the girl's side at a safe distance from the water so as to avoid getting wet. There were several Pawn Chessmonz and Pickmonz on both sides of the dividing wall, although none of the humans could distinguish a difference between any of them. Ballistamon was delightedly being treated to a special oil bath. And the Monitamonz were perched along the top of the dividing wall with very specific instructions to: 1) Make sure the boys didn't try to sneak a peek. Zenjirou, that means you. 2) NOT record anything on the girl's side. And 3) Record the boys side as much as they like.

Just try to figure out who decided that last part. And, if you were wondering when Nene showed up, well...

"The Monitamon told me you were going to be spending time at a hot spring resort so I decided it might be a good time for me to pay you a visit," Nene's explanation should have been obvious.

"Of course." Clearly, this was just something Crystal was going to have to get accustomed to.

There was a yelp from the other side of the dividing wall accompanied by a splash as Zenjirou got acquainted with a small fireball to the face. Apparently he hadn't gotten the memo about no trying to peek.

"I think they've got us under surveillance," Taiki pointed out with some amusement.

"How is that even fair?" Zenjirou pouted.

"No one said it was supposed to be," noted one of the Monitamon.

"How come they get to spy on us, but we don't get to spy on-" Zenjirou trailed off, remembering that Taiki also had a trio of Monitamon now. "We can instruct our Monitamon to spy on them!"

Taiki laughed nervously. "I don't think that's going to work."

"And don't think we can't hear you talking about it!" Zapmon declared from the other side of the dividing wall.

* * *

Things seemed to settle down after that. Once everyone had dried off and gotten dressed it was time to browse around the local selection of dining options. These included a ramen cart operated by Bakumon, a small burger bar that was run by a family of Burgemon and Ebi Burgemon, and finally, an expensive restaurant operated by Digitamamon. Digitamamon had no intention of reducing his prices, even if this was the bunch of twerps who had taken down Megidramon's forces, so that kind of removed him from the running.

"I'll admit that DigiNoir is pretty good," Crystal was saying, "but since the food at this resort mimics cuisine from the human world, it's almost like a small touch of home so it's pretty good too."

"I can see why you haven't been in any hurry leave," Taiki agreed.

"I just hope this place will be alright without me here," Crystal became distant, but then she snapped herself out of it. "Of course, once you collect all the piece of the Code Crown this world will be saved and it will probably happen faster if you have more help."

Zapmon hopped onto the girl's shoulder. "Don't forget, Megidramon was the biggest threat to our survival and now that he has been taken care of it will be no problem for Imperialdramon and Cannondramon to defend the area. We can leave the rest up to them."

"That's true," Crystal conceded. Not that it was going to stop her from worrying about it.

* * *

That night, beneath the cover of the stars, Crystal found herself unable to get to sleep and snuck out to calm her nerves the only way she knew how. She returned to the area by the fountain decorated with the three clashing Depthmon statues. She picked out a spot and, listening to the sound of moving water, she began moving through the familiar stances of a frequently practiced kata to take her mind off things. She found the disciplined repetition to be somehow therapeutic.

Of course, as often happens with such carefully orchestrated solitary endeavors, her departure from the building everyone was spending the night in hadn't gone unnoticed and she was, in fact, followed. Taiki, being the unknowing athletic prodigy that he is, had a vague notion of what the girl was doing from his experiences with various martial arts clubs he had assisted with, but even then he didn't fully grasp the reasoning behind why she was out here practicing katas in the middle of the night. He could tell that something must be bothering her and his natural compulsion was to find out what it was so he could help.

"You know," he tried to get her attention without startling her too much. "I've helped out with some martial arts clubs before so I could maybe lend you hand if you like."

Crystal snorted in mild amusement. "You do realize that practicing katas is kind of a one person activity, right?"

"So then we could spar," Taiki suggested. "That takes two people, doesn't it?"

Crystal strategically maneuvered into a new stance so that she was facing away from him, but even then she couldn't blow him off completely. "I somehow doubt that was your reason for coming out here this late at night."

"True," Taiki admitted. "If you would rather just talk about what's bothering you, that would be fine too. But," he trailed off deliberately before finishing, "you might not want to talk about it."

"Are you always this observant?" Crystal had ceased moving through the stances of the kata she had been in the middle of performing to face him again.

"Beats me," Taiki simply smiled and propped his arms behind his head. "Did you want to take me up on that offer?"

"Sure," Crystal shrugged. "Why not?" She moved into a defensive stance keeping her arms raised in front of her face the way she had been trained. "Let's see if you've got anything to teach me."

* * *

It didn't last long. In fact, it only took a few seconds for it to become abundantly clear that neither of them was likely to make the first move and, with that in mind, Crystal completely altered her fighting stance. Which is to say she lowered her hands, let out a low growl, and performed a running leap to tackle Taiki to the ground all before his brain could register that she had just completely abandoned the notion of sparring in favor of something else entirely. Crystal shoved herself off to the side and immediately started giggling.

"What the heck was that?" Taiki was still slightly overwhelmed by the combination of surprise and the force of gravity.

"_That_ was a raptor pounce," Crystal informed him once she managed to get her laughter under control. She still had a self satisfied grin on her face. "I've used a similar move in grappling class, although the actual technique isn't officially recognized by any martial arts school that I'm aware of."

"And here I thought it might have been something you picked up from living with the digimon," Taiki laughed nervously. That growl before had been fairly convincing, especially in the dark.

Crystal sat up and easily pushed herself onto her feet without bothering to use her hands. "Watching them might have helped me to subconsciously improve on the idea," she admitted scratching behind her ear. "I'm not sure I've ever really given it that much thought. It's more of a defense mechanism." She extended a hand to help Taiki get back on his feet. "I wouldn't stand a chance in a formal sparring match. The padding would slow me down, I'm lousy at taking a hit, and I'm pretty pathetic when I can't rely on unconventional tactics."

Taiki blinked as Crystal helped him up. "I'm guessing you never really planned to fight me seriously, huh?"

"I thought about it," she responded. "But then I realized I didn't stand a chance and we would just wind up exhausting ourselves more than we already have, so I decided it would be better to just end it quickly. Using Digi Xros is pretty draining and you were putting a lot more energy into yours than I was today. I know you mean well, but you really shouldn't overdo it when you're already worn out."

"You can tell?" Taiki stared at her.

"The truth is we both are," she smiled at him. "So, what say you we head back and at least pretend we're trying to get some rest before tomorrow so your friends don't have to worry so much, alright?" She looked past him to where Akari, Zenjirou, Shoutmon, and Ballistamon were all dutifully spying on them from just behind the Depthmon fountain. Then she shifted her gaze to a nearby tree where Zapmon was camouflaged in the shadows. "Zapmon, I know you're there too."

"Drat, foiled again!" Zapmon pouted as she descended from the tree.

"How did you know where we all were?" Shoutmon was in awe of the new girl. He raced over to Taiki and tugged at his shirt, "We're taking this one with us, right?"

"That's really up to them," Taiki reminded the enthusiastic digimon.

"Call it intuition," Crystal added with a shrug. "I'm not really sure how it works, but I've learned to trust it."

Zapmon quickly scrambled up the leg of Crystal's pants, up the back of her shirt and finally settled on the girl's shoulder. "Just remember," she declared. "Crystal is _my_ human. I found her first."

"Relax Zapmon," Crystal tried to calm her partner down. She removed her silver Xros Loader from its holster to reload the rest of her team-Slashmon, Gururumon, Lighdramon, Black Fladramon, Raptordramon, Togemogumon, Thunderbirmon, Dorumon, Gryphomon, Ryuudamon, Yuki Agumon, and several Fan Beemon. "That also goes for the rest of you. Team Epoch is now affiliated with Xros Heart. We're all on the same side here."

"Hang on," Zapmon dropped down from the girl's shoulder and leered at Slashmon. "You're seriously coming with us? But who will look after the resort while we're gone?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Slashmon brushed her off. "The digimon here will look after things. The resort will be in very good hands."

"Besides, we're going to need Slashmon for our Digi Xros to be at full power," Crystal finished. "Once we leave this Zone we can't afford to keep holding back."

**To Be Continued... ?**

* * *

Author's Notes: I decided to combine some ideas for scenes I've been wanting to experiment with. I think it turned out alright.


	7. Part 7

Author's Notes: To be perfectly honest, this installment was just pure overkill. And a lot of it.

* * *

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **_| **Part 7** |_

"So this is what it's like to transfer between Zones," Crystal was deliberately floating upside down as she drifted through Digital Space along with Taiki, Akari and Zenjirou. The distinct lack of gravity didn't seem to trouble her at all.

"You really haven't done this before, have you?" Taiki was still kind of surprised to learn that Crystal had somehow managed to remain in the Resort Zone the entire time she had been in the Digital World so far. He had already been to numerous Zone, several of which he had visited all in the same day. And with the way he kept encountering Nene and Kiriha in different Zones, it seemed like everyone else he had met with a Xros Loader was constantly on the move.

"How long does it usually take to arrive at the next Zone?" It was a perfectly legitimate question even if Crystal knew she wasn't going to get a definite answer. From the looks of it some Zones were obviously more spread out than others.

"I haven't really been keeping track," Taiki admitted as he pulled out his Xros Loader and began fiddling with it. That would have been fine except that he was almost immediately snagged from behind by a randomly occurring demonic hand attached to what appeared to be an extendable arm. The arm whipped around violently causing Taiki to lose his grip on his Xros Loader before dragging him away through Digital Space.

"What the heck was that?" Crystal demanded. She looked to Akari and Zenjirou. "Does this kind of thing always happen when you guys transfer between Zones?"

"More often than you'd think," Akari sighed in frustration.

Zenjirou waded over to retrieve Taiki's discarded Xros Loader so they wouldn't lose track of it.

"Why do these guys only go after Taiki!" Shoutmon wailed from within the Xros Loader. He definitely wasn't liking the fact that his general had been stolen away from him _again_.

"In any case," Crystal spoke up again. "We've got no choice but to go after him. Let's try not to get separated, shall we?" She was already paddling in the direction the arm had originated from.

"Be careful," Wisemon's voice emerged from Taiki's Xros Loader. "The digimon who has captured my lab animal is a very dangerous trickster named Diablomon."

* * *

The Terminal Zone was basically just an endless plain with metallic flooring populated by nothing but a seemingly infinite number of computer terminals of various shapes and sizes. When Crystal arrived with Akari and Zenjirou the entire Zone was totally silent. There didn't seem to be any digimon inhabiting this Zone and the only sound was their foot steps clattering on the metallic surface that comprised the landscape for the entire area. It was rather unsettling.

"Are you sure this is where Diablomon brought Taiki?" Shoutmon wasted no time materializing from the boy's Xros Loader.

"Pretty sure," Crystal answered.

A black feather fluttered down as Beelzebumon chose that precise moment to make an appearance. "This is definitely the right place," he informed them.

Crystal hadn't met Beelzebumon yet so his sudden arrival made her jump. She relaxed once it became clear that he was only there to help. Once it looked like the girl had managed to calm herself, Beelzebumon directed the group over to one of the computer monitors where they could clearly see Taiki struggling in Diablomon's grasp.

"As you can see," Beelzebumon went on, "the Terminal Zone is directly linked to the Network Zone. Diablomon is a digimon who thrives by consuming vast quantities of data so these two Zones provide an ideal habitat for him."

"Alright," Crystal pulled out her Xros Loader and held it out in front of her. "Reload, Black Fladramon!" The flame armored, humanoid black dragon rapidly materialized. "I want you to wait here with Akari and Zenjirou. This has the look of a serious trap so I think I might need the rest of the team with me."

"Understood," Black Fladramon nodded. "Take care of yourself out there."

"That goes double for you," Crystal responded.

Zenjirou handed over Taiki's Xros Loader. "What makes you so sure this is a trap?"

"Diablomon wanted us to track him here," Crystal answered as she pocketed Taiki's red Xros Loader for safe keeping. "That in itself is a pretty bad sign."

* * *

Nevertheless, Crystal was walking directly into it. And she was immediately surrounded by numerous copies of Diablomon.

"I hate it when I'm right," she grumbled. Even so, she held out her silver Xros Loader fully prepared to go on the offensive to clear a path through them. "Reload, Team Epoch!"

**"Blades of Thunder!"** Zapmon swung her clawed hand at one of the Diablomon copies emitting blades of silvery electricity with which to strike him.

**"Spit Fire!"** Slashmon exhaled a barrage of golden fireballs into the chest of another of the copies.

**"Chaos Fire!"** Gururumon exhaled a stream of purple flames onto another of the Diablomon copies.

**"Blue Thunder!"** Lighdramon blasted another of the copies with electricity projected from the three spikes on the back of his armor.

**"Crash Charge!"** Raptordramon slammed into yet another of the Diablomon copies.

**"Hail Machinegun!"** Togemogumon unleashed a barrage of his icy quills onto several of the Diablomon copies all at once.

**"Thunderstorm!"** Thunderbirmon blasted another of the copies with electricity.

**"Gear Stinger!"** Crystal's little swarm of Fan Beemon surrounded one of the Diablomon copies and began pelting it with their stinger missiles.

**"Iaijin!"** Ryuudamon began rapidly exhaling katanas at another of the copies.

**"Metal Cannon!"** Dorumon exhaled a barrage of metallic cannonballs at another of the Diablomon copies.

**"Super Sonic Voice!"** Gryphomon emitted a blast of high frequency sound to blow several of the copies away at once.

**"Little Blizzard!"** Yuki Agumon exhaled a breath of cold fire at yet another of the Diablomon copies.

And, as if that wasn't enough already, Taiki's team wasn't about to be outdone at a time like this and so the main members of Xros Heart also materialized to enter the fray.

**"Drill Buster!"** Dorulumon pulverized one of the Diablomon copies with a barrage of spinning rocket drills.

**"Heavy Speaker!"** Ballistamon blew away several copies with a blast of sound from his chest speaker.

**"Meteor Squall!"** Starmon assaulted numerous Diablomon copies by raining Pickmonz into them.

**"Death the Cannon!"** Beelzebumon quickly opened fire on several of the copies at once.

**"Rowdy Rocker!"** Shoutmon easily smacked aside one of the Diablomon copies with his mic and swifty went after another one without losing momentum.

Taiki had been about to warn them about the trap, but he was stunned into silence when he witnessed exactly how they were going to handle it. Clearly, Crystal hadn't been joking when she said she had been holding back during her time in the Resort Zone. Taiki was going to have to remember to stay on her good side.

* * *

Akari and Zenjirou couldn't help but stare at the image they were watching on the closest computer monitor. They were so engrossed with watching what was happening on screen that they didn't notice when a portal opened up behind them when Nene arrived with Kiriha.

"You know," Kiriha pointed out the image on the screen. "It doesn't really look like Taiki needs my help with this one."

"Crystal is putting up a decent fight," Nene assured him. "However, there are probably many more enemies that we can't see because they are still lurking off screen."

"I see," Kiriha shrugged. "Then I guess we're going to have to bail them out after all."

* * *

The rapid succession of attacks had shrouded the surrounding area in a smoke screen. Crystal decided to take advantage of the momentary confusion caused by the diversion by climbing onto Gryphomon's back while still holding out her Xros Loader with one hand. It was time to kick things up a notch.

**"Zapmon, Slashmon, Gururumon, Lighdramon!"** Crystal called out. **"Digi Xros!"**

The four digimon each acknowledged her in their own way before finally coming together. **"Digi Xros! X-Slashdramon!"**

X-Slashdramon had the torso of an anthropomorphized Gururumon. The fur on each of its legs eventually transitioned into a pair of three-toed, silver-clawed, black-scaled draconic talons with blue and crimson lightning bolt patterned stripes. The fur on each of its arms eventually transitioned into a pair of five-fingered, black-scaled, humanoid hands with a pattern of blue and crimson lightning bolt patterned stripes. Each finger ended in a pointed silver claw. Its tail was also distinctly black-scaled and reptilian with blue and crimson lightning bolt patterned stripes. X-Slashdramon was also draconic from the neck up with silver eyes and a draconic face covered in black scales with blue and crimson lightning bolt patterned stripes. It had a pair of metallic horns protruding from its snout above its nostrils with two additional pairs of metallic horns protruding from above its eyes and from the back of its head. A longer pair of horns the same black color as its scales was positioned outside the metallic pair on the back of its head. X-Slashdramon's right shoulder was cover by a section of black colored armor with the row of three lightning bolt shaped spikes from Lighdramon's back facing downward. Lighdramon's facial mask was mounted on the back of X-Slashdramon's right arm with the metallic lightning bolt shaped nose spike having been extended into a reasonably respectable sword. X-Slashdramon also had a pair of draconic wings extending from its shoulder blades fading from gold to crimson to white giving it an impressive wingspan.

"Alright guys," Crystal started once the Digi Xros was complete. She slipped her Xros Loader back into its holster so she could get a better grip on Gryphomon. "We're going to need you to cover us while we go retrieve Taiki from ugly. Shoutmon, I'll be counting on you to give us a little extra muscle once we get to him."

"I like the way you think," Shoutmon made his way over and climbed onto Gryphomon's back so that he was standing with his mic at the ready.

"Let's go!" Crystal held on tight as Gryphomon finally sped away from the smoke covered portion of the Network Zone to pursue the Diablomon that still had Taiki in his grasp.

However, another Diablomon copy quickly blocked her path only to be slammed out of the way by the arrival of Kiriha and his Metal Greymon.

"It looked like you could use a hand," Kiriha commented nonchalantly when Crystal looked his way. He shifted his attention to Taiki. "Can't you go anywhere without getting yourself captured?"

"Thanks Kiriha," Taiki grumbled. "I appreciate your concern."

**"Random Laser!"** Sparrowmon blasted several more Diablomon copies out of the way to clear a path.

"This infestation is even worse than I thought," Nene remarked rather offhandedly.

"Remind me to thank you later," Crystal stated simply as she urged Gryphomon to stay on course.

Once they got close enough to the Diablomon that was holding Taiki hostage, Shoutmon launched himself off of Gryphomon and smacked the Diablomon in the arm with his mic so as to loosen his grip on Taiki. From there Shoutmon made sure to grab Taiki by the wrist and flung him bodily over to where Crystal was still waiting to help him onto the winged beast so he could pound on the Diablomon some more without putting Taiki in danger.

**"Rock Damashii!"** Shoutmon flung the ball of energy he generated straight into the Diablomon's face.

Once Taiki was safely on Gryphomon's back, Crystal pulled his Xros Loader from her pocket and handed it over to him. "You dropped this," she told him somewhat jokingly. "You really ought to be more careful about that."

"I'll make a note of that," Taiki chuckled nervously as he took back his Xros Loader.

"So Taiki," Kiriha called down to him from where he was standing in Metal Greymon's clawed hand. It looked like Metal Greymon was literally standing on the wall above them. There was definitely something a little bit off about the physics of the Network Zone. "Are you planning to help clean up this mess or what?"

"I was getting to it!" Taiki called back.

* * *

"Just how many of them are there?" Akari remarked as the screen in front of her filled with Diablomon right before they were blown away by the joint efforts of Shoutmon X4B, Metal Greymon, Sparrowmon, X-Slashdramon and the rest of Team Epoch.

"I think it would be safe to assume that Diablomon began duplicating himself as soon as he captured Taiki," Black Fladramon suggested. "And because each copy also has the ability to replicate itself that means the number of copies has increased exponentially in a very short time. The could be thousands upon thousands of them."

"Do you think the others really stand a chance in there?" Zenjirou asked.

Black Fladramon nodded. "As long as they remember to work together they should have no problem eliminating the copies. However, defeating the original will be much more difficult."

* * *

**"Giga Destroyer!"** Metal Greymon blasted multiple Diablomon with the blasts from his cannons, accidentally grazing Shoutmon X4B in the process.

"Hey!" Shoutmon X4B protested loudly. "Watch where you're aiming!"

"Sorry," Metal Greymon apologized. "I didn't see you there."

"Didn't see me? I'm not even the same color as these guys!" Shoutmon X4B persisted.

"Now boys," Nene interrupted. "This really isn't the best time for petty squabbling."

"Some things never change," Taiki sighed. Why did Kiriha and his digimon always have to be this way?

With things heating up the way they were, Crystal had Gryphomon make a quick pass through the battlefield so she could retrieve the rest of her team to store them safely in her Xros Loader. With all the heavy artillery that was going around she really just didn't want them to get hurt by friendly fire.

**"Spectral Thunder!"** X-Slashdramon generated a prismatic electric field on the surface of its body before projecting it outward to vaporize a horde of surrounding Diablomon all in one shot. It looked like they were finally starting to put a dent in the absurd number of copies that still swarmed around them.

* * *

When it reached the point where there were only a small handful of Diablomon left, they suddenly shattered into a much more numerous swarm of Kuramon as they fled from the Network Zone into the Terminal Zone.

"Did we beat them?" X-Slashdramon asked of no one in particular.

"I don't think so," Taiki responded. "They might just be regrouping before they resume their attack."

"Then we'd better hurry after them," Crystal suggested.

* * *

Meanwhile, Akari and Zenjirou fell back from the computer monitor they had been watching as a portion of the swarm of Kuramon suddenly flooded from the screen and Black Fladramon immediately went on the defensive.

"That was only the first round," Black Fladramon remarked sternly. "The worst is yet to come."

**To Be Continued...**


	8. Part 8

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 8**|_

**"Knuckle Fire!"** The metallic claws of Black Fladramon's flame patterned gauntlets began to glow with intense heat as he began tossing fireballs at the swarm of Kuramon that were invading the Terminal Zone as they fled from the Network Zone. He knew he couldn't stop them. There were just too many of them. And with so many computer terminals for them to exit from, the most he could do was eliminate the ones that were right in front of him. Fortunately, the one-eyed jellyfish-like digimon didn't appear to be at all interested in Akari or Zenjirou so as long as the two humans he had been asked to look after kept low to the ground the Kuramon would leave them alone. However, it was deeply disconcerting how the Kuramon were all converging on a single point directly overhead.

Several moments later the four human generals tumbled out of a portal accompanied by yet another slew of Kuramon. Nene somehow managed to come out standing, but the other three landed in an awkward heap with poor Taiki on the bottom. Crystal managed to get away from the pile up without much difficulty, but Kiriha seemed to enjoy having Taiki pinned beneath him a little more than was absolutely necessary, especially given the situation unfolding with the Kuramon.

Beelzebumon quickly joined Black Fladramon in his efforts to blast down the swarm of Kuramon and it didn't take long for the rest of the digimon to emerge from their respective general's Xros Loader to join the battle, but even then they were still severely outnumbered by the seemingly endless mass of Kuramon filtering from the computer terminals all around them.

"Just how many of these things are there?" Dorulumon growled as he crushed several beneath his massive paws.

"Too freaking many if you ask me," Zapmon replied from somewhere up above. The small dragon was balancing precariously on one of the levitating Kuramon as she lashed out at a section of the surrounding swarm with her claws electrified claws.

Then, without warning, the flood of Kuramon ceased just as suddenly as it had started. By that point the vast majority of the small digimon were concentrated in the air. The Kuramon were so densely packed together that even the combined strength from Sparrowmon, Mail Birdramon, Thunderbirmon and Gryphomon was beginning to have no effect. And that was when the Kuramon began to lose their individuality as the wriggling mass of tiny digimon began to merge together to form a single giant entity in their place.

"I should probably warn you that Armagemon is even more powerful than Diablomon and much more dangerous," Wisemon remarked helpfully.

Armagemon swung his huge limbs effectively swatting the aerial digimon that had been in proximity to him to the metallic ground beneath him. Then the strange compartments on his back opened up as he unleashed a barrage of dark, missile-like projectiles down on the area beneath him. Slashmon charged into action, striking down one of the incoming projectiles with his glowing claws. Greymon utilized his powerful tail to swat down several that came within range of him. Within seconds the rest of the digimon had also joined in the counterattack. However, some of the dark projectiles did manage to impact the metallic ground sending tremors throughout the surrounding area.

"That guy has some serious firepower," Crystal commented from behind a row of broken computer terminals.

"We're going to get pulverized if we let him keep us on the defensive like this," Kiriha seemed ready for another fight.

* * *

**"Blade Lightning!"** X-Slashdramon generated a strong electric field around its body, concentrating it along the blade extending from the Lighdramon helmet on its right arm before slashing at Armagemon to form an electrified energy blade.

**"Plasma Deckerdra Launcher!"** Decker Greymon fired a blast with the outward appearance of a small exploding star up at Armagemon from his main cannon.

**"Impact Laser!"** Shoutmon X5 fired a spiraling green laser stream from his shield cannon up at Armagemon.

The attacks hit their mark and exploded violently against Armagemon's body as the humongous digimon continued to hang ominously in the sky. However, when the smoke cleared, it was readily apparent that they hadn't put a scratch on him. The huge digimon's jaw unhinged as an enormous ball of solar-hot energy shot from the back of his throat causing the three Digi Xrossed digimon to scatter as it burned past them to form a huge, smoldering crater in the metallic ground beneath their feet.

"Hey guys, I think we could use a new strategy," X-Slashdramon remarked uncomfortably. "I'm afraid all I've come up with so far is don't let a blast like that hit us."

"In fact," Kiriha interjected, "it might be preferable not to let him do that again."

Crystal ran a hand through her hair as she contemplated the situation. "This guy seems to be pretty invulernable on the surface so we might have to resort to blasting him from the inside," she noted even though the idea gave her some pause.

"You might be right," Taiki was also trying to analyze their opponent and he had reached more or less the same conclusion. Armagemon's only apparent vulnerable spot was the inside of his mouth.

"Which means we're going to have to wait for him to open his mouth to launch that attack again and strike before he has time to finish," Crystal concluded. "And since Decker Greymon is pretty much grounded," she looked meaningfully at Kiriha, "that means we're going to need him to cover X-Slashdramon and Shoutmon X5 in case Armagemon decides to hit us with more of those other projectiles. Think you guys can handle that without taking any cheap shots?"

"Given the circumstances I think we can certainly agree to that," Kiriha responded in slight amusement. "Although, I do wonder how you're planning to pull this off."

"Actually, I was counting on X-Slashdramon to give him a nasty stomach ache," was Crystal's response.

* * *

**"Supernova Impact!"** X-Slashdramon's body became engulfed in white hot flames as it sped high into the air and slammed into the underside of Armagemon. As soon as they made contact, the flames rapidly exploded outward to engulf the bottom half of Armagemon's body with intense heat. They might not have been able to break through all that thick skin, but it looked like Armagemon definitely felt X-Slashdramon impacting with his body and the painful heat of the flames that spread from the point of impact because Armagemon was roaring out in pain.

"I should have warned you that even though you can breath fire, mine is a hell of a lot hotter," X-Slashdramon proclaimed triumphantly. Then, to ensure that Armagemon's huge jaws would remain open long enough for Shoutmon X5 to land the finishing blow, X-Slashdramon slammed a flurry of high speed punches into Armagemon's underside. **"Rapid Strike!"**

Shoutmon X5 circled around to come at Armagemon from the front and plunged his sword into the enormous digimon's mouth to pierce the solar heated blast that had begun forming at the back of Armagemon's throat. This caused the blast to explode within Armagemon's enormous jaws, rebounding throughout his humongous body. Then, with Armagemon's jaws still wide open, Shoutmon X5 unleashed a laser stream from his shield cannon to finish the job. **"Impact Laser!"**

Armagemon's gigantic body began to plummet from the sky as it slowly faded into a humongous golden cloud of data. At the very center of the data cloud was one of the pieces of the Code Crown. A second piece emerged from one of the remaining computer terminals that hadn't gone offline from being rocked by all the explosions. Both pieces drifted gradually, eventually making their way over to Taiki. Kiriha shrugged it off. There were still plenty of Zones left for him to conquer on his own time.

* * *

"That guy was one seriously messed up piece of work," Zapmon commented from her newly established perch on Crystal's shoulder.

"At least we beat him," Shoutmon reminded her.

"You couldn't have done it without my help," noted Kiriha.

"Aren't you glad I went and got you?" Nene asked him in a deliberately teasing manner.

Kiriha shrugged. "Don't push your luck. You were in just as much danger here as the rest of us."

"Yep," Zapmon grinned as she launched herself off of Crystal's shoulder and glided over to land on Taiki's so she could pat him on the head. "Nothing like getting kidnapped to bring everyone together."

"Something like that," Taiki laughed nervously. Zapmon seemed to follow some very strange logic. He gently lifted the small dragon off his shoulder and set her on the ground. If she wanted to perch on someone, then she could go ahead and perch on Crystal. They were partners after all.

"I'm out of here," Kiriha waved over his shoulder as he prepared to transfer to another Zone. "And Taiki, don't expect me to go easy on you next time. I don't care if you've found yourself another ally. I still intend to defeat you."

And with that, he disappeared through the portal.

"Is he always like this?" Crystal had to ask.

"You have no idea," was Taiki's reply.

"I should get back to searching for my brother," Nene decided. "Try to stay out of trouble for at least a little while, alright?"

And sure enough, Nene left too.

"I guess that means we should be leaving too," Zenjirou suggested. "I don't know about the rest of you, but this Zone kind of gives me the creeps."

"There really isn't anything left to do here," Akari agreed.

"Sounds like a plan," Crystal didn't want to stick around in this Zone either. "Hopefully we can avoid any further detours."

"Then let's move on to the next Zone," Taiki could certainly stand for a change in scenery. Clearly, he had become a little too popular with the Bagra Empire.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, it's been a ridiculous couple of chapters. I think I might want to let things wind down a little bit for the next one, but you never know what might happen.

* * *

Additional Author's Notes: And yet, in spite of all the things that have happened so far, the status quo continues to remain unchanged. For some reason I find that to be somewhat comforting. Of course, who knows how long it will stay that way?


	9. Part 9

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 9**_ |

The Starlight Zone was a Zone that was shrouded by a perpetual night sky. It was a place where the sun simply didn't rise and the moon never set. It was a Zone populated with digimon that were well adjusted to living in the dark. It was also the next Zone that Xros Heart happened to arrive in.

The landscape was primarily comprised of long stretches of grassy hillside with a narrow stream weaving between them, plenty of scattered clusters of trees all around, and, of course, a beautiful star filled sky. And, although it was always dark, the climate was actually fairly comfortable. At least, it would have been if the four humans hadn't arrived from a portal that had materialized in the midair several feet above the winding stream. As such, they were now soaking wet.

"This world has a twisted sense of humor," Crystal complained as she made her way to shore.

"And here I thought you liked rivers," Zapmon materialized from the girl's Xros Loader so that she was standing securely by the water's edge.

"This isn't a hot spring!" Crystal knelt down and struck the surface of the water with the curve of her arm to produce a powerful crescent of water that effectively slammed into the small dragon, drenching her and knocking her off balance.

"Humans shouldn't be able to _do_ that," Zapmon sputtered as she got back on her feet and began to shake herself off.

"Is that a fact? Because I can certainly do it again if you need another demonstration," Crystal assured her.

Zenjirou placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think you've already made your point. Besides, we should probably try to concentrate on drying off."

Crystal reflexively reached up to remove Zenjirou's hand. "Personal space," she stated as she stepped away from him. "I'm all for drying off though."

"She has really good aim, doesn't she?" Taiki was grinning in amusement.

"Maybe she can aim at you next time," Akari began shoving Taiki toward shore since he hadn't bothered to do so himself.

* * *

They decided to build a campfire so they could warm up and dry out their clothes faster. Taiki and Zenjirou wasted no time stripping their shirts off. Akari sat up against Dorulumon with Cutemon on her lap close to the fire. Crystal sat a little further from the fire, having set aside her thoroughly soaked vest, leaning up against Gururumon while looking up at the starry sky which provided a much needed diversion from a certain boy walking around without a shirt on. Naturally, it seemed that Starmon was very at home in this new Zone as he levitated in the sky among his glittering metaphorical brethren.

"I didn't have a chance to thank you for coming after me back there," Taiki sat down next to Crystal. After all, Gururumon was certainly large enough that there was plenty of room.

So much for using stargazing as a diversion. "You really don't have to thank me," she responded after a brief pause. "After all, you would have done the same for me."

Crystal squinted as a shadow seemed to pass in front of her view of the stars. "Hang on," she continued to watch the sky carefully and a second shadow blew past followed by a third. "It looks like there's something up there."

Taiki followed Crystal's gaze, but it wasn't until one of the shadows flew by with a silvery-white something clutched in its talons that he realized they were actually digimon. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a yellow fox-like digimon emerging from the shadow of a nearby tree before scaling the tree in a single bound and propelling off of a high branch to land on the shadowy digimon's wing. The shadowy digimon, Sabirdramon, struggled to shake off the fox, Renamon, but then one of the other Sabirdramon spun around and flew back. Taiki couldn't see it clearly, but it looked like the Sabirdramon pulled up at the last second as a shadowy projection of itself impacted the Renamon, knocking the fox-like digimon from the sky. Almost immediately, a second Renamon appeared from a nearby shadow to retrieve its falling companion before it could impact the ground.

Strabimon, the digimon caught in the talons of one of the Sabirdramon, began to struggle against his captor to no avail.

"This looks like the work of the Bagra Empire," Dorulumon observed.

"Then I guess that means it's our turn to lend a hand," Crystal already had her Xros Loader at the ready. **"Zapmon, Thunderbirmon, Digi Xros!"**

The small dragon and the thunderbird came together in midair. **"X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode!"**

Most of X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode's appearance was derived from Thunderbirmon, with silver eyes and some other draconic additions. It had a draconic snout in place of a bird's beak visible beneath its armored facial mask and the portion of its body exposed between its armored wings was similarly scaled, going so far as having a whip-like, reptilian tail tipped with the rest of Thunderbirmon's armor. In place of Thunderbirmon's talons were a pair of more muscular, draconic talons also tipped with Thunderbirmon's armor. The scales exposed by the gaps in its armor were black in color with silver and gold lightning bolt patterned stripes.

X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode flew swiftly to intercept the Sabirdramon that appeared to be transporting a hostage. Electricity gathered around X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode's body, concentrating around its wings. **"Lightning Wing!"** X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode swooped in to strike the Sabirdramon from above, stunning the shadowy avian digimon with the electric shock and causing it to loosen its hold on its prisoner.

Shoutmon quickly leapt into action, intending to snatch Strabimon out of the air before the little beast man could hit the ground, but he was thwarted by yet another Renamon emerging from a nearby shadow and leaping gracefully onto his head before continuing on to rescue Strabimon in Shoutmon's place. Naturally, by utilizing Shoutmon to maintain her own upward momentum, the Renamon caused enough rebound on the red dragon to make him drop back to the ground performing a very angry face plant.

"Hey!" Shoutmon complained loudly. "That was supposed to be my heroic save!"

The Renamon ignored him rather purposefully. "Are you alright, Strabimon?" she was much more concerned about the newly released prisoner.

"I'm okay," Strabimon answered sullenly. "I can't believe they almost had me."

"We're not out of the woods just yet," Taiki reminded them. The Sabirdramon were still up there in the night sky. He could just barely make out their outlines circling overhead.

X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode was narrowly avoiding being struck down by the Sabirdramon unleashing barrages of shadowy fireballs from multiple directions all at once. Visibility was already reduced because of the distinct lack of sunlight, but the Sabirdramon also had the advantage of being camouflaged against the night sky by their naturally dark plumage. That was when Taiki remembered one of the DigiMemories he had received from Slashmon back in the Resort Zone that might be able to even the odds.

_**"DigiMemory!"**_ he crammed the cartridge into the correct slot of his Xros Loader. _**"Valdurmon, Aurora Undulation, Activate!"**_

A magnificent six-winged bird filled the dark sky with its warm radiance. Holy light shined off of Valdurmon's many glowing feathers until it reached maximum brightness and fired off in all directions in an explosion that easily swallowed the flock of Sabirdramon. X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode, lacking evil intentions, was momentarily blinded, but was otherwise unharmed. Once X-Zapdramon Wyvern Mode got its vision back it finished the job by projecting a strong electric field off of its body to blast the flock of stunned and partially blinded Sabirdramon. **"Shockwave Burst!"**

* * *

By the time they regrouped by the fire there were close to a dozen Renamon revealed to have been lurking in the shadows and several Kudamon that hadn't been far behind when Strabimon had been captured by the Sabirdramon. The multitude of fox-like digimon had quickly gathered around Strabimon.

"Can you tell us more about what's been happening here?" Taiki was striving to be serviceable as always.

"It's really none of your concern," Strabimon stubbornly refused his help. "We can deal with the Bagra Empire without relying on you human generals."

However, one of the Renamon stepped forward to cut him off. "Strabimon says that, but the truth is our priestess has already been captured and there isn't much we can do against those flying digimon without her."

"I see," Taiki nodded thoughtfully. "Well, we would be happy to help rescue your priestess." He smiled reassuringly.

"There he goes again," Akari simply shook her head. She was used to this by now.

"I doubt your luck will be any better than ours," Strabimon still seemed unconvinced.

"It might be difficult, but I'm sure we can figure something out." Crystal decided to step in.

"We can take you to where the priestess is being kept," one of the Kudamon spoke up. "However, she is being guarded by a powerful winged digimon called Yatagaramon."

"Don't worry," Shoutmon assured them. "Xros Heart is on the job."

* * *

Once the humans were properly dressed, even if their clothing was still a little damp, they set off with the entourage of fox-like digimon to infiltrate the shrine where the priestess had been imprisoned. The Renamon quickly vanished into the shadows all around them while the Kudamon slipped in and out of view due to the ethereal quality of their semi-transparent bodies. Only Strabimon remained fully visible in the lead.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra** | _**Omake 1**_ |

Kiriha was both confused and somewhat embarrassed as he watched Metal Greymon fleeing away from a swarm of angry Tokomon. The little pink digimon pursued the cybernetic dinosaur with their mouths wide open to reveal their many teeth. Kiriha frowned slightly when Metal Greymon eventually ducked behind him in an effort to get away from the onslaught of small, furious, biting digimon. Kiriha couldn't believe, after all the tremendously powerful opponents they had beaten, that he was being chased away by a bunch of tiny pink blobs just because they happened to have a severely disproportionate number of teeth in their little mouths.

Then one of the Tokomon latched onto his foot and he could feel the sharp, pointy teeth through the fabric of his boot. Kiriha signaled Metal Greymon to lower his flesh hand so he could climb on. "Come on," he instructed. "We're leaving." He kicked the Tokomon off of his boot as Metal Greymon took to the air. Kiriha determined that it would probably be best to just avoid these sorts of digimon in the future.

**Omake 1 - End**

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra**| _**Omake 2**_ |

"How do you guys keep employing identical strategies without consulting each other? Are you reading each other's minds or something?" Zenjirou's question was directed at Crystal and Taiki. They both stared at him blankly.

"Wait," Taiki glanced at Crystal. "When did we do that?"

"We didn't," Crystal responded. "He just hasn't been paying attention when we've been collaborating on combat strategies between chapters."

"Oh," Taiki nodded. He grinned at Zenjirou. "I can see why you might have been a little bit confused by that."

**Omake 2 - End**

* * *

Author's Notes: So, that was a fairly straightforward chapter with a few comedic extras thrown in to help tide you all over until next time.


	10. Part 10

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 10 **_|

The shrine came into view up ahead. As they continued to approach a huge shadow blew past them with enough speed to blow them over from the wind pressure alone. Whatever it was, it must have been very large and very fast.

"That must have been Yatagaramon," Shoutmon quickly got back on his feet ready to fight.

**"Mach Shadow!"** A Sabirdramon swooped down at high speed and sent a shadow of itself to knock Shoutmon to the ground again before rising back into the air.

"Damn," Shoutmon grumbled as he lifted himself from the dirt again. "These guys are definitely a problem."

"It looks like what we need to do first is give them fewer targets," Taiki realized. And it just so happened that he had a relatively easy way to achieve that. He held out his Xros Loader to set his plan in motion. **"Shoutmon, Ballistamon, Dorulumon, Starmon, Pickmonz, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The digimon all came together to assume the familiar form of Shoutmon X4. **"Shoutmon X4!"**

"In that case," Crystal held herself up on one elbow while holding out her Xros Loader, "I can make us more difficult to hit. Reload, Lighdramon and Gururumon!"

Once the two beast digimon had materialized from her Xros Loader, Crystal quickly pushed herself onto her feet and climbed onto Gururumon's back. "Lighdramon, since you'll be a less visible target, I want you to take care of Akari and Zenjirou. If those over-sized birds are going to be blasting at anyone, it should be me and Taiki."

"As you wish," Lighdramon nodded and dashed away to swiftly retrieve the specified humans.

Zapmon was clinging purposefully to Crystal's shoulder. "Are you sure this is such a good idea?" The small dragon really wasn't sure what the girl was thinking. Gururumon didn't blend in with the environment and he wasn't as fast as Lighdramon, but given the circumstances, Zapmon supposed he was going to have to be fast enough.

"I think I've got this covered," Crystal tried to assure her. Gururumon had already sped over so they could retrieve Taiki.

Taiki got up off the ground and heaved himself up onto the large wolf's back behind Crystal. "But with your team spread out on the defensive like this you won't be able to use your best Digi Xros." He was all for Crystal looking out for their friends, but he wasn't sure what she was planning by cutting down so much on her offensive capabilities.

"Trust me," Crystal responded. "We aren't going to need it."

* * *

Lighdramon remained constantly on the move to make himself a virtually impossible target for the shadowy avian digimon that continued to loom up above. Gururumon wasn't so lucky and frequently found himself having to maneuver around incoming attacks, sometimes just narrowly avoiding being hit. However, Crystal had put her faith in him for this task and Gururumon had no intention of letting her down so he pressed on as best he could.

Shoutmon X4 was having the worst luck. He was the biggest target in the area which meant that every time he did manage to cut down one of the Sabirdramon another would blast him from behind. He was strong enough that he could withstand the near constant impacts, but it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to launch a counterattack.

Strabimon moved quickly so that he was able to run vertically up Shoutmon X4's back so that he could get high enough to launch himself at one of the surrounding Sabirdramon to strike with a glowing kick. **"Licht Bein!"** He landed lightly on the ground once his attack was finished and looked skeptically at Shoutmon X4. "Is that really the best you can do?"

"I'm just getting started," Shoutmon X4 retorted.

Several Renamon revealed themselves simultaneously, having hidden themselves in Shoutmon X4's shadow waiting for an opportunity to strike. They dashed vertically upward on all sides and threw themselves at several of the circling Sabirdramon as glowing shards began to form over their crossed arms. **"Fox Leaf Arrowheads!"** The glowing shards easily hit their mark, thereby reducing the number of enemies in the vicinity. Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, the Renamon all disappeared from view again.

Crystal decided this would be a good time to initiate the other part of her plan. She glanced over her shoulder at Taiki, "Now, while they're still disoriented, we can even the playing field by Digi Xrossing Shoutmon X4 with Zapmon to make him disappear!"

Zapmon was rubbing her hands together expectantly. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

"Alright," Taiki agreed. "Let's give it a try."

He and Crystal both held up their Xros Loaders while declaring in unison, **"Shoutmon X4, Zapmon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** As soon as the digimon came together the transformation was immediate. Shoutmon X4 turned jet black with only an intermittent pattern of lightning bolt patterned stripes to show his original coloration. Now he would easily be able to blend in with the dark environment. **"Shoutmon X4 Eclipse!"**

It seemed to work because the Sabirdramon were having trouble finding him even though he hadn't actually moved from where he had been standing. However, when one of them accidentally brushed against him, the Sabirdramon was knocked back by a powerful jolt of electricity. Apparently the electric field Shoutmon X4 Eclipse had gained from Zapmon was amplified to the point that it formed a natural barrier around his body. That meant he didn't actually have to attack the Sabirdramon in order to damage them.

"Now the real fight begins," Shoutmon X4 Eclipse looked meaningfully at Strabimon.

"We'll see about that," Strabimon was still being defiantly skeptical. Even if he was somewhat impressed by this new Digi Xros, he wasn't inclined to say so.

* * *

As Shoutmon X4 Eclipse continued gradually cutting down the flock of Sabirdramon he was eventually impacted by a much larger avian digimon, one not so easily troubled by the electrical barrier surrounding Shoutmon X4 Eclipse's body. It looked like the boss had finally decided to show himself. He quickly spun around to intercept Yatagaramon with his sword. Energy began to crackle at specific points on Yatagaramon's wings before being channeled into the avian digimon's third leg to form a powerful blast that struck Shoutmon X4 Eclipse full on in the chest. **"Mikafutsu no Kami!"**

Shoutmon X4 Eclipse staggered back from the blow, straining to hold the Digi Xros together.

_"Hey, no giving up now! I won't stand for it!" Zapmon offered what might have been intended as encouragement._

"You don't got to tell me twice," Shoutmon X4 Eclipse pushed himself stubbornly onto his feet, leaning on his sword for support. "That big bird is going down!"

The only problem with that was that he had lost track of Yatagaramon's position while he was momentarily dazed. But then, he wasn't exactly in this battle alone.

**"Exceeding Light Dash!"** Several Kudamon became fast moving beacons of light with their earrings shining brightly as they darted deftly across Yatagaramon's huge body to expose him. That was all the help Shoutmon X4 Eclipse needed because now he could see his opponent.

He raised his sword, electricity crackling along the blade, and swung it forcefully at Yatagaramon emitting a powerful energy wave to engulf the avian digimon. **"Shocking Burning Star Slasher!"**

The Kudamon moved swiftly to get away before Yatagaramon became engulfed by the attack. And, with their leader finally eliminated, the remaining Sabirdramon immediately fled from the battlefield in an effort to escape suffering the same fate. The digimon that had composed Shoutmon X4 Eclipse separated once the Digi Xros was no longer necessary.

"Now that's what I call teamwork!" Zapmon gave Shoutmon a quick pat on the back.

* * *

With the threat posed by Yatagaramon eliminated, the team was able to regroup before continuing the rest of the way to the shrine where the priestess was said to be imprisoned. However, once they got there it really didn't look like Miko Sakuyamon was much of a prisoner. In fact, she emerged from the shrine to greet them.

"It looks like we finally found someone capable of ridding us of all those pesky birds," she spoke appreciatively. "It would appear that the rumors about the unparalleled power of human generals possessing Xros Loaders with the ability to utilize Digi Xros were true after all."

"I'm sorry," Akari decided to voice her confusion. "It's just, somehow, you don't seem like a prisoner."

"Well," Miko Sakuyamon confessed. "Not anymore. In truth," she explained, "I sealed myself within the shrine to conceal the actual whereabouts of this Starlight Zone's Code Crown. Although, it would seem that one of my more avid supporters wasn't very happy with that decision." She looked meaningfully at Strabimon who blushed and looked away in defiance. "As long as Yatagaramon was preoccupied with breaking through my magic barrier, he would have refrained from going after the local digimon."

"You shouldn't have to make that kind of sacrifice for us," Strabimon protested stubbornly. "We are more than capable of defending ourselves."

"Then I suppose you wouldn't want Sakuyamon to find out about how you were nearly captured yourself," one of the Renamon that had accompanied him interjected.

"Did he now?" Miko Sakuyamon spoke thoughtfully. For some reason this caused Strabimon to look down at the ground in a distinctly sulky manner. "If he had been captured it would have been a terrible loss for all of us."

"I promise I'll be more careful next time," Strabimon spoke insistently.

"That really won't be necessary," Miko Sakuyamon smiled at him. Strabimon's face immediately went red and he was forced to look away again.

"So then Strabimon must have had the Code Crown the entire time," Taiki realized.

"I felt it would be safer if I didn't have it with me," Miko Sakuyamon explained. "However, it would seem Strabimon is even more reckless than I originally anticipated. Nevertheless, there was no harm done and we were able to meet the infamous team Xros Heart along with the strong general who will one day reunite this Digital World. You are indeed worthy of receiving this Zone's Code Crown."

"You can't be serious," Strabimon began to protest.

"What's the matter Strabimon?" Miko Sakuyamon stepped closer and patted him on the head. "You have fought alongside them and you have seen their strength for yourself. Do they still not meet with your approval?"

Strabimon sighed heavily. There was just no arguing with her. He pulled the Code Crown from where it had been concealed within one of his clawed gloves and reluctantly handed it over to Taiki.

"Just remember that your victory here wasn't yours alone," Strabimon pointed a clawed finger at him. "And I'm only willing to acknowledge you because Sakuyamon-sama believes you are worthy."

With that, Strabimon ran off into the night. He didn't want to be surrounded by all those humans and digimon when he was already feeling so incredibly flustered.

"Don't mind him," Miko Sakuyamon smiled reassuringly. "He really appreciates all that you've done for us even if he won't admit to it."

"That's okay," Taiki could understand that. "Besides, he was an awfully big help to us too."

* * *

After that, they were invited to rest at the shrine until they were prepared to leave for the next Zone. There was some confusion when Zenjirou made the suggestion that they should probably stay until morning and one of the local digimon had to explain to the group that the Starlight Zone was a land of endless night, but once that was cleared up it wasn't really that big a deal. And the fox-like digimon inhabitants of the shrine expressed their gratitude to Xros Heart by providing a generous amount of food and room for everyone to sleep.

"So Zapmon must be a pretty versatile digimon, right?" Akari commented while they were all sitting down to eat.

"That's true," Crystal responded. "Although, it helps that I've had a lot of time to experiment with my team to see the results of different Digi Xros combinations. That versatility has gotten my team out of some pretty tight spots."

"So you must have taken all that into consideration when you decided which digimon to bring with you once you started thinking about leaving the Resort Zone," Taiki observed.

Crystal nodded. "I wanted to put together a strong team without leaving the Resort Zone completely defenseless. So, while the digimon I brought with me might not look like much individually, they support each other really well and that makes them much stronger together than they would ever have been on their own."

"Of course," Slashmon interrupted. "The same is also true whenever you human generals with Xros Loaders choose to join forces with each other. The Xros Loaders resonate with each other and the resulting Digi Xros receives power channeled from each of you as you have seen through Shoutmon X5 and today's X4 Eclipse."

"So that's why you weren't worried during the battle earlier," Taiki realized as he looked back at Crystal. She must have planned on supporting him the entire time.

"Pretty much," Crystal responded. She grinned sheepishly. "My only real concern was keeping us all alive until we managed to beat Yatagaramon."

* * *

Once they were all good and rested, at what might have constituted morning in some other Zone, the group was finally ready to depart to the next Zone. Strabimon returned to see them off, although he ducked behind a door frame in an effort to avoid being spotted.

"Good luck to you on the rest of your journey," Miko Sakuyamon bid them farewell along with the rest of the fox-like digimon who had provided assistance to Xros Heart during their stay in the Starlight Zone.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, I think my vision of the Digital World based on my experience with watching Digimon Xros Wars has become a little more sophisticated since I originally began working on this story. I really wasn't expecting for Strabimon to be such a tsundere, but then it isn't the first time I've had a minor character become something entirely unexpected. And Kiriha still hasn't forgiven me for that incident with the Tokomon last chapter. Anyway, this seems like a reasonable place for me to leave off for the weekend. If I'm feeling up to it next week I might make another update or two, unless I decide to give some attention to one of my other stories instead. As always, I hope you all have enjoyed reading.


	11. Part 11

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 11**_ |

The Haunted Zone was comprised of a dismal looking floating island littered with scattered tombstones with a large, spooky mansion looming at its center. Numerous Bakemon and Soulmon, with a handful of Phantomon lurking among them, faded in and out of view as they floated through solid objects and made occasional small talk. A pack of Dobermon circled along the perimeter of the mansion keeping an eye out for intruders. Several Candmon hopped around illuminating the twisted pathways that were all around the mansion, occasionally leading unsuspecting digimon astray. Meanwhile, a bunch of Tsukaimon flitted around spreading rumors and false information.

The peace of this everyday routine was broken only when several humans began yelling from the roof of the mansion. Or, more precisely, it was when Taiki arrived with Akari and Zenjirou at roughly the same time that Nene and Kiriha both emerged from their own portals into the Haunted Zone. This would have been fine except for the fact that as soon as they made contact with the roof of the mansion a trap door opened up beneath them causing them to slide down a shaft until it eventually split off in two directions causing the group to become separated as they continued to plummet down through the hidden passages within the enormous mansion. Falling through the trap door was what caused several of them to commence yelling at the top of their lungs.

"How nice," one of the Bakemon in the vicinity spoke in a surprisingly dignified manner. "It sounds like we might have some actual visitors today."

* * *

When they finally came to a stop, Taiki found himself positioned awkwardly over Kiriha and quickly rolled off to the side before pushing himself onto his feet to try to find his bearings. It looked like they had tumbled out of a passage resembling the base of a laundry chute into a long hallway with a multitude of doors on either side. Kiriha groaned and lifted himself into a sitting position.

"You know, you're heavier than you look," he commented dryly.

Taiki decided to ignore his comment and continued looking down the hallway. "I don't suppose you have any idea what kind of Zone this is supposed to be, do you?" He glanced back at Kiriha, finally offering a hand to help him up. Kiriha brushed the hand aside and pushed himself onto his feet on his own.

"Unfortunately," Kiriha responded, "I'm in the same boat as you. I just got here myself."

"I see," Taiki considered that for a few seconds before breaking into a wide grin. "Then I guess we should probably stick together until we find out more about this place."

Shoutmon decided to materialize from Taiki's Xros Loader. "Good idea. Let's have a look around!"

Kiriha sighed. If he got into trouble he wouldn't be able to depend on Greymon and Mail Birdramon. Although they were still in the digital world, this mansion clearly hadn't been built to accommodate dinosaurs or large, mechanized birds. With that in mind, it looked like he was going to be stuck with Taiki and Shoutmon, at least until they found a more open area to explore.

"I wonder what all these doors are for," Shoutmon reached up to jiggle one of the door handles. It wasn't locked and swung open easily. However, at the exact same time a trap door dropped from under Shoutmon's feet. Taiki made a grab for the red dragon's tail as he started to fall, but then Taiki lost his balance and started to fall after him. Without really thinking about it, Kiriha made a grab for the back of Taiki's vest only to be pulled down after them.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the mansion, Zenjirou landed flat on his face as Akari landed on top of him. Nene somehow managed to land on her feet so that she was standing next to them. Akari recovered first while Zenjirou was still writhing from having her land on him like that. It was reassuring to see that Nene was there with them even though Taiki didn't appear to be anywhere nearby.

"It looks like we somehow arrived in the same Zone," Nene informed her while they waited for Zenjirou to get back on his feet.

"Do you know anything about this place?" Akari had a feeling she might not like the answer.

"I only know what's been transmitted to me by the Monitamon," Nene responded. "The Haunted Zone is sort of like an amusement park for demonic and ghostly digimon to terrorize their unsuspecting victims."

Zenjirou shrieked and somehow leapt into Nene's arms as a Bakemon emerged from the wall in front of him. Nene promptly dropped in back on the floor.

"They won't hurt us," Nene continued. "They just want to scare us is all."

Even though Nene had warned her, Akari still screamed when a Soulmon emerged from the opposite wall and made a funny face at her. Nene placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright," she tried to sound reassuring. "They're just messing with us."

* * *

Kiriha landed on top of Taiki and Shoutmon when they finally stopped falling. This time they were in what looked like a wide open ballroom with enormous jeweled chandeliers dangling from the ceiling. At least this room was spacious enough that he would be able to call upon Greymon and Mail Birdramon if he needed them. After a moment's hesitation, Kiriha finally pulled himself off of Taiki so he could get back on his feet.

"This time, don't touch anything," Kiriha warned Shoutmon.

"How was I supposed to know there was a trap door?" Shoutmon burst onto his feet while Taiki was still partially leaning over him which knocked the boy flat on his back.

"Calm down Shoutmon," Taiki winced slightly as he sat up again. Then he tried to get back on his feet, managing without further incident this time. "We need to work together to find a way out of here."

That was when he noticed that they were surrounded by Bakemon and Soulmon, with more filtering into the room with every passing second. Shoutmon yelped in surprise when a Phantomon began rising up out of the floor in front of him and backed into Taiki. Since they weren't far from the wall this caused Taiki to stumble into a hanging tapestry, one that happened to conceal a hidden passage.

The ghostly digimon filling the ballroom began cackling delightedly. Kiriha decided to follow Taiki behind the tapestry just in time to hear the first of the jeweled chandeliers clattering to the floor.

* * *

"Taiki, are you there?" Akari was trying to reach him with her Wrister, but all she heard was static.

"We might not be able to get a signal here," noted Nene. The hallway they had fallen into was rapidly filling with Bakemon and Soulmon all just waiting for an opportunity to surprise them. Akari had become unfazed by the ghostly digimon after the third or fourth confrontation, but Zenjirou was still shrieking whenever they passed in front of him. Nene began counting down in her head and sure enough, there was another audible yelp from Zenjirou as he wrapped himself around her waist. She reached down to pry him off of her and shoved him aside. "Relax, they're only digimon."

Except, Zenjirou stumbled against the wall which spun around knocking him into a secret passage. Nene frowned. She hadn't meant to push him quite that hard. Then again, she hadn't anticipated that the wall would move either.

"Come on," Nene grabbed Akari by the arm. "We'd better go after him."

The passage behind the wall must have been a tower with a spiral staircase. However, once Nene and Akari were standing on the stairs they suddenly collapsed to form a steep incline. As they slid down the passage Nene spotted Zenjirou just in time to watch him disappear down another trap door that closed over him and locked into place so that she and Akari simply kept on sliding.

* * *

Zenjirou toppled onto the floor of what looked like an elaborate control room filled with viewing monitors and a complicated looking control panel covered in buttons, dials and switches. There was a Mummymon sitting on a rolling office chair sitting in front of the control panel reading a newspaper while taking a sip of coffee from an ancient looking mug. He peered over the top of his newspaper and looked directly at Zenjirou.

"Boo!" he exclaimed noncommittally. Zenjirou shrieked and bolted from the room. The Mummymon chuckled and went back to reading his newspaper.

* * *

The passage behind the tapestry brought Taiki, Shoutmon and Kiriha to another hallway lined with many doors. Or it might have been the same hallway as before. There was no way to be sure. At least there were fewer ghostly digimon in the hallway which afforded them a little breathing room. Kiriha was beginning to think he should just leave the Haunted Zone to Taiki and transfer himself to a less troublesome Zone. Although, if he did leave, he couldn't be alone with Taiki. Not that they were alone now. Even without Shoutmon getting in the way this Zone was extremely crowded.

The boys walked down the hallway until the floor began rising under their feet. A trap door opened above them in the ceiling as the platform they were standing on continued rising upward. It seemed that they had found some kind of elevator. Well, at least they didn't have to fall on top of each other this time.

"I wonder how big this place is," Taiki spoke up as they waited for the platform to reach its destination.

"Who knows?" Kiriha shrugged. The way they had been dropped through trap doors and stumbling through hidden passages it was impossible for him to discern the actual size of the building. It was rather frustrating, in part, because the architecture was more of a menace to them than the digimon inhabiting it.

* * *

Zenjirou came upon a strange looking digimon that, much to his relief, didn't appear to be a ghost. Omekamon spun around at the sound of approaching footsteps. The paper puppet digimon had been in the process of drawing himself a new face and there was still a blank spot where his mouth should have been. When he realized this, Omekamon spun back around so that his back was to Zenjirou and hastily scribbled a fiendish, shark-like grin for a mouth.

"Omeka," Omekamon turned back to face Zenjirou.

Zenjirou hesitated. It seemed like the digimon he had been observing had drawn on its own face.

"Omeka," Omekamon spoke again. He sidled up to Zenjirou and swiftly raised his marker to scribble a mustache on Zenjirou's face before shuffling down the hallway.

"What the-?" Zenjirou stared in total astonishment as Omekamon ran off. "What a strange digimon..."

* * *

Nene and Akari finally reached the bottom of the staircase turned incline. They emerged from a doorway hidden behind a statue of a regal looking warrior digimon into what looked to be the main entrance to the mansion.

"It looks like we've made it to the ground floor," Nene observed. Unfortunately, they still hadn't managed to catch up with the others which meant they might have to continue looking for them.

"I hope Taiki and Zenjirou are doing okay," Akari didn't give much thought to Kiriha. He seemed like someone who could handle himself in almost any situation.

"We might be able to get a better view of the mansion from outside," Nene suggested.

Then an explosion sounded. Both girls found that to be somewhat discouraging because it meant that a fight had broken out somewhere.

* * *

Step.

"Omeka."

Step.

"Omeka."

Step.

"Omeka."

Zenjirou stopped and turned around. The strange digimon he had encountered had begun following him almost as soon as Zenjirou had begun walking in the opposite direction that Omekamon had run off in after doodling on his face. When Zenjirou turned to face him, Omekamon stood perfectly still and pretended like he wasn't there. Zenjirou turned back around and resumed walking.

"Omeka."

Step.

"Omeka."

Step.

"Omeka."

Zenjirou stopped again. He looked back at Omekamon. The digimon had gone totally rigid again.

"You know I can see you, right?" Zenjirou spoke to the rather odd digimon.

"Omeka," Omekamon answered with a shake of his head.

Zenjirou shrugged and resumed walking. At least Omekamon was better than the ghosts that had frightened him earlier. He just hoped he would meet up with the others soon.

* * *

The elevator platform brought Taiki, Shoutmon and Kiriha to a wide open room leading out onto a balcony overlooking the area outside the front of the mansion. There were also more Bakemon, Soulmon, and a few Phantomon in the room, but none of them appeared to be interested in the two humans or the red dragon who accompanied them as all the ghostly digimon were flocking over to the balcony. There were even a few of the not-so-ethereal Tsukaimon scattered among them.

"They're ignoring us," Shoutmon sounded almost disappointed by this turn of events.

"Then there must be a reason for it," noted Kiriha. He started making his way over to the balcony that was rapidly becoming crowded with ghostly spectators. There was definitely something going on out there.

Taiki shrugged and followed after him with Shoutmon not far behind him. That was when they heard the explosion. However, they were too far from the edge of the balcony to see anything that was going on beneath them, but then Taiki noticed that all of the ghostly digimon were looking _up_. The explosion had come from the sky.

Taiki had assumed that he and the others had all fallen into the mansion and would eventually be able to meet up with each other as long as they kept moving, but that wasn't the case. The explosion they heard had come from Black Fladramon as he slammed into a metal claw on a chain with his entire body engulfed in crimson flames to free Crystal from the clutches of Apocalymon. However, even then, they were surrounded by a small army of Deathmon.

Taiki's eyes went wide as a look of horror filled his face. He quickly realized that he hadn't been paying enough attention and while he had been exploring the mansion with child-like curiosity, simply enjoying the novelty of his predicament with Kiriha, one of his friends had been in very real danger. He turned to Kiriha.

"We have to help her," Taiki spoke insistently. Without Nene and Sparrowmon he had no way to fly so he was going to have to count on Kiriha to come through with Mail Birdramon instead.

"This really isn't any of my concern, but fine," Kiriha responded rather offhandedly. He had a good mind to believe that the girl in question didn't really need to be rescued, but he didn't like to see Taiki in such a panic either so he decided he might as well play along for a little while. Besides, he was interested to see what Crystal's team would do to defend themselves.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: Talk about mood whiplash. Did anyone honestly expect me to go through with a comic relief chapter without transforming it into something sinister?


	12. Part 12

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra** | _**Part 12**_ |

Crystal was captured by Apocalymon while she was in transit to the Haunted Zone with the rest of Xros Heart. After that, she really wasn't sure where Apocalymon had taken her. There was darkness all around them. It was the sort of darkness that had a way of swirling into twisted patterns as shadows moved across shadows with no discernible light source. And yet, there must have been a light source because the digimon holding Crystal captive were clearly visible within the swirling darkness. She felt the cold metal of the claw that was being used to restrain her, but Crystal forced herself to remain calm. She didn't want to give Apocalymon the satisfaction of watching her struggle against him.

"So you are the girl with the silver Xros Loader," Apocalymon spoke while the army of Deathmon that had accompanied him kept their distance. Crystal didn't answer. She just watched him carefully. "You have been a minor annoyance to the Bagra Empire for quite some time now, but now that you have aligned yourself with Xros Heart I'm afraid your transgressions can no longer be overlooked. Although, I sorely doubt you will be able to provide me with any real entertainment. As the general of team Epoch you once had command of the mighty Imperialdramon and other powerful digimon, but you chose to leave them behind when you departed from the Resort Zone. With your strength diminished by this sacrifice you have been forced to depend on the members of Xros Heart to compensate for your loss of power."

"As if," Crystal finally spoke against him. "I didn't join Xros Heart out of any kind of necessity. I decided to join them because I believe in the future that Taiki and Shoutmon are fighting for."

That was when Black Fladramon materialized from the girl's Xros Loader. The black dragon leapt into the air, engulfing himself in crimson flames, before slamming himself against the chain that was connected to the metal claw restraining his general. **"Fire Rocket!"** The impact created a small explosion, but the chain still held firm so Black Fladramon pushed himself up from the chain and ignited the air around his body before slamming into the chain a second time. This time, the chain shattered and the metal claw that held Crystal became to dissolve into a glowing cloud of data.

"I think you will find that my power is still very much intact," Crystal stated as Black Fladramon skillfully back-flipped away from the debris of the chain to stand behind her.

Apocalymon let out an amused chuckle. "Then perhaps you might be able to provide me with some entertainment after all."

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," Crystal responded. She held up her Xros Loader. She quickly cycled through the available members of her team. **"Zapmon, Slashmon, Gururumon, Lighdramon, Black Fladramon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!" **The digimon Crystal had chosen quickly came together. **"X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode!"**

X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode had roughly the same appearance as X-Slashdramon. The most obvious changes included the addition of Fladramon's chest armor with the symbol for Courage facing outward on X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode's left shoulder, three leather straps matching Fladramon's covering the upper portion of X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode's left arm, and Fladramon's facial helmet facing outward on the lower portion X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode's left arm so that the nose spike formed a respectable backwards facing arm-blade. The flame knee-pads, spiked flame boots and spiked flame gauntlets from Fladramon's armor were also present on X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode.

* * *

Mail Birdramon came to a hovering stop when it became apparent that they had somehow run out of sky. In fact, it seemed like an invisible pane of glass obstructed access to the battle that was going on up above. Taiki clenched his fists and began pounding on the invisible barrier in frustration to no effect. Kiriha waited a moment before finally putting a restraining hand on the other boy's shoulder.

"You know that isn't going to get us anywhere," he admonished him.

"There has to be a way to get up there," Taiki persisted. He banged on the alarmingly tangible surface of the sky once more before finally regaining some of his composure.

"If you would just calm down and watch, I think you might find that she really doesn't need to be rescued," Kiriha told him. It looked to him like Crystal had already gotten the situation under control on her own.

Taiki looked up and saw that Crystal had already broken free. In fact, it looked like she had activated a Digi Xros he hadn't yet seen during the time Crystal had spent with his team. Kiriha released Taiki's shoulder when it felt like the goggle head was finally starting to relax.

"You see," Kiriha continued. "That girl can handle herself just fine."

Taiki reached up and tapped the solid surface of the sky separating them from the battle taking place overhead with the back of his hand. "You know, I'm not sure she can tell we're down here."

That was when Nene and Akari flew up to join them on Sparrowmon. Taiki started to panic again when he realized Zenjirou wasn't with them.

"Where's Zenjirou?" he tried to restrain himself from freaking out again.

"We got separated," Nene answered him. "He's probably still in the mansion somewhere."

"Do you think he'll be alright without us?" Taiki heaved a sigh of relief.

"For now," Nene confirmed. "It looks like most of the ghost digimon have migrated out here to watch the fight."

"He might actually have an easier time getting out of there without the ghosts there to scare him," Akari realized.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zenjirou was trying to navigate through the mansion with Omekamon still trailing after him. He hadn't stumbled through any trap doors since around the same time he had noticed that the ghostly digimon appeared to be losing interest in sneaking up on him as they gradually dispersed from the mansion. It was somewhat of a relief because Zenjirou's throat was beginning to feel a little strained from all that yelling.

"I don't suppose you know a way out of here, do you?" he looked to Omekamon. The strange digimon stopped in his tracks behind him.

"Omeka," Omekamon responded. Then he shuffled forward and raised his marker to hastily scribble a monocle around Zenjirou's eye using a different color than he had used to scribble a mustache on the boy earlier. Omekamon quickly shuffled backward and pushed open a door before disappearing through it.

Zenjirou was still fairly baffled by Omekamon's behavior, but he decided to follow the strange digimon anyway. Sure enough, he found a staircase leading down from the other side of the door. As long as he could make it to the ground floor he would be able to find his way outside.

* * *

**"Explosion Eye!"** The central eye of each of the Deathmon shined deep crimson before shooting laser beams in the direction of X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode from all sides. For a brief instant it seemed that they had the Digi Xrossed digimon at their mercy, but as X-Slashdramon Dual-blade Mode unflinchingly took the multitude of hits it began to spin rapidly in place before finally moving toward one of the Deathmon.

**"Bladed Spin!"** The blades extending from the Lighdramon and Fladramon facial masks on each of X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode's arms were on either side of the rapidly rotating digimon as it plowed into its first target. Then it moved on to the next one. Then another. And another. Until, when X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode was finished, there wasn't a single Deathmon left standing. That was when X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode redirected its attention to Apocalymon.

"I'm only going to say this once," X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode declared warningly. "You have absolutely no idea what you are up against."

"We shall see," Apocalymon assured his opponent. He fired out another metal claw attached to a double helix chain and formed the claw into an enormous, shadowed mouth. The mouth opened and produced a huge, frothing bubble of rainbow colored spit. **"Rainbow Spit!"**

X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode took the bubble full in the chest. It burned. And, before X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode could shake it off and move out of the way, a second bubble hit the Digi Xrossed digimon in the face. The burning sensation intensified, but X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode managed to hold together.

"And now to end this," Apocalymon sounded rather disappointed. The metal claw attached to the chain reformed into the shadowy face of a Metal Seadramon. **"Ultimate Stream!"** The snout of the Metal Seadramon face glowed brightly before firing off a devastating beam of densely concentrated energy.

"X-Slashdramon, heads up!" Crystal called out in alarm. The surface of X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode's body began to shine with a silver colored aura. The pain forgotten, X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode held its hands out in front of its chest as a white hot fireball quickly formed between them.

**"Heat Storm Power Surge!"** X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode hurled the white hot ball of fire into the approaching beam of energy. The fireball ripped straight through it and impacted the Metal Seadramon face that had been formed from Apocalymon's metal claw causing it to explode.

"I see," Apocalymon was no longer amused. "It looks like you've still got some fight left in you."

Crystal relaxed slightly now that X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode was no longer in the line of fire. "And that's not all we're packing either," she declared as she once again held up her Xros Loader. **"Ryuudamon, Dorumon, Digi Xros!"**

The two digimon came together in front X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode before taking on the form of a legendary sword to be taken into X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode's outstretched hands. **"Ou Ryuu Ken!"**

For the first time since the battle had begun, Apocalymon was genuinely frightened by his opponent. "That's impossible," he declared in full denial. "The Ou Ryuu Ken is a weapon that belonged to Alphamon, but both only exist in legend!"

"Then maybe it's time for a new history lesson," X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode hefted the huge sword with both hands and charged at Apocalymon while performing a downward diagonal slash. "Some legends are real!" There was a rapid series of explosions as X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode cut through Apocalymon with the Ou Ryuu Ken. Apocalymon eventually split down the middle and became engulfed by a huge explosion.

* * *

There was a sharp cracking sound as the barrier that had blocked the sky began to shatter visibly now that Apocalymon had been defeated. As such, the sky returned to the Haunted Zone's regular dreary state. And, with nothing there to stand on, Crystal became subject to gravity.

At least until Taiki caught her by the arm and dragged her onto Mail Birdramon to keep her from falling too far.

"Nice catch!" Nene called out to him.

Crystal was momentarily disoriented. Somehow she had transitioned from being surrounded by total darkness to falling out of a slightly less darkened sky.

"When did you guys get here?" Crystal wondered aloud.

"We've been here the whole time," Taiki responded. "Although, somehow you weren't able to see us."

X-Slashdramon Dual-Blade Mode was similarly disoriented, but instead of dwelling on the confusion decided to concentrate on reaching the ground before the Digi Xros finally broke down into its component digimon.

"I must have been pulled into some kind of twisted pocket dimension," Crystal concluded as she tried to shake off her confusion. She noticed that Kiriha was staring at her. "What?"

"What's the deal with that sword you Digi Xrossed just now?" Kiriha wanted an explanation. This was the first he had heard of Alphamon or the Ou Ryuu Ken.

"Geez," Crystal scratched behind her ear. "You guys saw all that?"

"Yes," Kiriha responded. "And if you want to avoid having to walk back to the ground, I'd like some answers."

Crystal sighed. "Fine, I'll talk. Give me a second, will you?" She was still trying to properly orient herself to what had taken place just a few moments ago.

* * *

Now that the battle was over the ghostly digimon were flooding back into the mansion. It wasn't long until a swarm of them managed to track down Zenjirou. He immediately began shrieking and trying desperately to get away from them.

"Omeka?" Omekamon had somehow managed to get behind him again.

* * *

"Basically, the Ou Ryuu Ken is a weapon rumored to have belonged to a legendary digimon called Alphamon," Crystal started to explain. "Even Slashmon isn't sure such a digimon has ever actually existed, but back when I was still just experimenting with different Digi Xros combinations I managed to produce the Ou Ryuu Ken entirely by accident."

"But if you had something as powerful as that why weren't you able to defeat the Bagra Empire during all the time you spent in the Resort Zone?" Taiki felt something wasn't adding up.

"That should be obvious," Crystal responded. "It's derived from a weapon said to have been used by a legendary digimon. I might be able to produce it using Digi Xros, but even X-Slashdramon can barely handle using it. There's no telling how much damage a weapon like that might cause if we lost control." She stared off into the distance. "It's too powerful. I only used it just now because I didn't think we could win otherwise and I didn't think there was anyone else around."

They finally reached the ground so Taiki and Crystal could climb down from Mail Birdramon.

"Well Taiki, it looks like your new team member isn't any better at staying out of trouble than you are," Kiriha commented as he considered taking off to some other Zone.

"And we appreciate your help Kiriha," Taiki assured him. He remembered that they still needed to find Zenjirou. "I guess we'll see you around."

Kiriha shrugged and finally made his departure. He had no intention of going back inside that mansion.

Within seconds, Zenjirou finally burst from the entrance to the mansion trailed by a swarm of Bakemon and Soulmon. He made his way over to Taiki and wrapped around his waist. "I was so scared!" he proclaimed dramatically. Then he realized Nene was still there and dislodged himself from Taiki so that he could cling to her instead. For a moment, Nene was so surprised that Zenjirou had attached to Taiki first that she didn't immediately pry him off of her.

Now that the humans had managed to crowd together they weren't as easy to scare so the swarm of ghostly digimon began to disperse around them. Once they were out of the way, Omekamon ventured over to them.

"Omeka!" He gestured wildly for the group to follow him.

* * *

Omekamon led them to the control room near where Zenjirou had first encountered him. And whenever any of the ghostly digimon started to interfere with their progress, Omekamon would blast them with his Rakugaki Rocket to cover them in a splash of vibrant colors before shooing them away. When they did eventually make it to the control room they were greeted by Mummymon who smiled jovially at them.

"You kids have been pretty good sports so I think it's only fair to let you guys have this," he held up a piece of the Code Crown. He gestured toward Zenjirou. "It isn't every day we get this much entertainment."

Zenjirou was hiding behind Nene, hanging onto her shoulders while keeping his eyes tightly closed so nothing could possibly sneak up on him. Mummymon couldn't help grinning. "It's a total riot how easy that boy is to scare."

* * *

Then, after retrieving the Code Crown for the Haunted Zone, they were ready to move on to the next Zone.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: You know, I sometimes wonder about my sense of humor. I'm hoping the next Zone won't be quite as crazy as this one has been.


	13. Part 13

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

Author's Notes: I've been contemplating how I was going to arrange for a chapter like this for quite some time now. I realize that a Snow Zone was featured in the Xros Wars manga, but it was never visited in the anime and considering how wildly different the Sweets Zone was between the two media, I think I can afford to take some creative liberties for the purposes of this fanfic.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 13 **_|

The Snow Zone was a region of ice and snow. It was cold to begin with and bad weather was making it even colder. Naturally, the human members of Xros Heart were severely under dressed to be standing around in a Zone like this. And that was before they got ambushed by the Bagra Empire's army of Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon residing in the area.

Shoutmon emerged from Taiki's Xros Loader to combat the icy digimon, but he quickly began hopping up and down, shivering as his feet touched the frozen, snow covered ground. Ballistamon didn't fair any better because his mechanical components began to lock up from the cold once he emerged to join the fight. Dorulumon wasn't troubled by the cold and he could hold his own against the enemy digimon, but he was still outnumbered and the weather was getting worse by the minute.

Crystal's team fared slightly better with Gururumon, Black Fladramon, Ryuudamon, Yuki Agumon and Dorumon able to tolerate the cold well enough to fight. Unfortunately, with the core members of her primary Digi Xros combination refusing to emerge from her Xros Loader, there wasn't much else Crystal could do.

Omekamon appeared out of nowhere and attempted to scribble on one of the Hyougamon with his marker, but it turned out that the ink was frozen solid so it couldn't write. "Omeka," Omekamon pouted in disappointment.

"We can't stay out in this blizzard," Taiki had already realized that the cold would beat them well before the Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon managed to finish them off.

That was when Grappleomon appeared. With the turbines on his arms and legs turning rapidly he swiftly smacked down the icy digimon in the vicinity causing them to leave deep indentations in the densely packed snow. Once he had taken down the Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon, Grappleomon waved for the humans and assembled digimon to follow him. "This way," he raised is voice so that it would carry over the noise from the storm. He began leading them away from the battlefield.

* * *

Grappleomon brought them to a cave that would shelter them from the blizzard that was raging over the frozen wasteland. It was definitely warmer inside and they were able to build a fire to help them recover the heat they had lost by standing out in the icy wind. Crystal was huddled against Gururumon with Dorumon curled up on her lap. Taiki, Akari and Zenjirou were huddled against Dorulumon who wasn't exactly thrilled with being utilizing as a canine space heater, but if he complained he would undoubtedly be faced with a pleading look from Cutemon and that would be even more embarrassing. Cutemon, for his part, was situated on Akari's lap.

"I can't believe we were beaten by a blizzard," Zapmon complained even as she refused to emerge from Crystal's Xros Loader.

Crystal shrugged. "It can't really be helped," she spoke softly. "If we had been out there any longer we could have been in much worse trouble. Personally, I've never been particularly fond of winter, but at least back home I would have had my winter coat so it wouldn't feel so cold."

Crystal didn't like being cold. She was practically cold blooded. She didn't function well when it was cold outside. She held onto Dorumon to soak up some of the warmth through his fur.

"That's the first time I've heard you mention anything about your life in the human world," Akari observed. Then again, Crystal barely mentioned anything about herself beyond her strategic relationship with her digimon.

"Is it?" Crystal hadn't really given her old life too much thought after she had been in the Digital World for awhile. "I guess I've just had so much else on my mind that it didn't seem that important." She sounded thoughtful. "I suppose my parents must be worried. Some of my friends are crazy enough that they might be scouring the woods by my house trying to find me in my usual hangouts. I'm not sure any of them will be able to find their way here though. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how I'm going to get back either. I don't really know how I actually got here in the first place."

"There was a voice when you received your Xros Loader, wasn't there?" Taiki certainly remembered hearing a voice when he received his red one.

Crystal nodded vaguely. "Yeah, but that happened _after_ I arrived. I saw all those young digimon from the resort hiding while some of the older ones fought to defend them, but it seemed so one-sided I wished I could help somehow. Then that voice gave me the power to protect them."

"It was kind of weird," Zapmon's voice interjected from inside Crystal's Xros Loader. "I was right there standing next to her and the next thing I knew she was holding a Xros Loader. I didn't see where it came from and she didn't seem to know how to use it, but I guess she must have figured it out pretty quick because she saved all of us."

"That's giving me too much credit," Crystal added hastily. "You were the one who told me to use Digi Xros. We were lucky the Xros Loader was so intuitive or it might not have been so easy. I'm still kind of amazed by the fact that my initial guess at how it was supposed to work turned out to be correct. I guess it figures that all those crazy games and stories we subjected ourselves to back home would contribute vital survival skills the one time I _actually_ got myself thrown into some other world."

"It sounds to me like you were tempting fate," Akari observed.

"Fate cheats at cards," Crystal responded automatically. "I didn't expect anything like this would ever _actually_ happen, but now that it _has_ I can't really object to it. Especially not when it feels like I'm meant to be here."

"Even when it means sitting in a cave freezing your butt off," Zapmon chimed in again.

"Alright, so I'm not too much use in a blizzard," Crystal rolled her eyes. "Then again, those of us who aren't made of ice or covered in fur aren't exactly built for this climate."

"If you're cold, I could help you warm up," Zenjirou volunteered.

"That really isn't necessary," Crystal told him off gently and leaned back against Gururumon. The large, pale blue wolf and the accompanying fuzzy, purple dragon curled up on her lap were doing a fine job of restoring the warmth to her body. "These guys are already doing wonders for me."

* * *

The storm passed. It was a welcome relief for everyone because the passing of the blizzard meant that it was slightly less cold in the Snow Zone. Not that it was too much of an improvement, but it was definitely a little bit better than before.

"Why don't we just transfer to another Zone for now and come back for the Code Crown during a warmer season?" Zenjirou suggested.

"Because we can't just leave this Zone under the Bagra Empire's control," Taiki answered automatically. "I know staying is going to cause us all some discomfort, but if we try to get through this quickly it won't be so bad."

"I'm afraid that's easier said than done," Grappleomon interjected. "The Code Crown for this Zone is being guarded by a fierce digimon called Waru Seadramon. And, even if you manage to get past him, the Code Crown itself is encased in a glacier."

"And the enemies that attacked us when we got here will probably block our way there," Dorulumon added.

"At least we stand a better chance of fighting them now that the blizzard is over," noted Taiki.

"But we still won't be able to fight at full power since a lot of the digimon we have with us don't have much tolerance for the cold," Crystal observed. And it _was_ still cold. Just slightly _less_ cold than when they got there. What they needed right now were combinations of fast moving digimon that could withstand the cold while combating enemies with lethal efficiency. She already had a combination in mind that seemed well suited to exactly this kind of situation. As soon as she thought ot if she started inputting the desired configuration into her Xros Loader as she held it out in front of her. **"Black Fladramon, Yuki Agumon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!" ** The two digimon came together. Black Fladramon's form remained unchanged, but the coloration of the scales beneath his armor shifted from black to white. **"Yuki Fladramon!"**

"Wait," Zenjirou was staring. "Did you seriously just combine _ice_ with_ fire_?"

"More or less," Crystal confirmed. "Although technically, Yuki Fladramon specializes in attacking with_ cold_ fire."

"What exactly is the point of doing that?" Zenjirou didn't seem to get it.

"Trust me," Crystal responded. "You'll understand once you see him in action."

"You got the idea from a video game didn't you?" Akari succeeded at exposing her.

"Several different video games, actually," Crystal admitted. "They were really good games though."

Taiki and Zenjirou just stared at blankly at the two girls.

Taiki managed to snap himself out of it because he knew now wasn't the best time to get distracted by trivial details like how many gamer girls were in the party. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Most of the core members of his team didn't tolerate the cold too well and he didn't want to push them too hard while they were still recovering from the severe chill they had suffered upon their arrival. Dorulumon was the exception. And, while Dorulumon was plenty strong enough on his own, it certainly wouldn't hurt to figure out some way to give him an improvised power boost to make the journey to the glacier a little easier for everyone.

His eyes fell on Grappleomon. The beast man had demonstrated considerable combat ability when he had rescued them from the army of Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon during the blizzard. Based on appearances, Taiki guessed that it was the constant rotation of the turbines on Grappleomon's arms and legs that must have shielded him from the cold which was why he could still fight strongly even during a terrible blizzard. As such, Grappleomon definitely struck him as a strong ally.

"How well does the rotation of those turbines block out the cold?" Taiki finally asked.

"It works great," Grappleomon assured him. "As long as my sense of justice remains strong they can rotate fast enough to distort gravity. The weather doesn't even touch me."

That was all the verification Taiki needed.

"Then Grappleomon, would you lend us your strength to make it through this?" Taiki had a feeling he probably already knew the answer, but it was still polite to ask.

"Absolutely," Grappleomon responded automatically. "I'll do whatever it takes to restore justice to the Snow Zone."

"In that case," Taiki held out his Xros Loader. **"Dorulumon, Grappleomon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The two digimon came together. The result of the combination was a bipedal variation of Dorulumon adorned with Grappleomon's armor. Each of the turbines rotating on his arms and legs were, in turn, covered in multiple golden drills which were, themselves, rotating in different directions. **"Were Dorulumon!"**

* * *

After that it was decided that the four humans would head for the glacier on Gururumon. The arrangement placed Crystal at the front with Akari situated between her and Taiki, with Zenjirou hanging on for dear life in the rear. At least being all together in such close proximity on Gururumon would help to keep them warm as they traveled across the icy landscape.

It was left up to Yuki Fladramon and Were Dorulumon to clear the way by beating down the Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon that attempted to block the way. It turned out to be a highly effective strategy as the two Digi Xrossed digimon managed to support each other well in battle.

**"Blizzard Knuckle!"** Yuki Fladramon shot a barrage of cold fireballs at the Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon from the armor on his fists. The fire was so cold, in fact, that it still managed to cause a severe burning sensation upon impact with the icy ogres and goblins before they went numb from frostbite.

**"Dorulu Backlash Hurricane!"** Were Dorulumon projected rapid spinning tornadoes off of each of the independently rotating drills on his body. The Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon that were caught by the high speed twisters were quickly ripped to shreds while those that remained quickly backed away to keep out of range. Distancing themselves didn't do the Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon any good. Were Dorulumon was on them before they could even blink. Such was the speed with which he moved. **"Drill Rotation Cutter!"** He slammed into his opponents, cutting into them with the pointed ends of the numerous rotating drills covering the turbines on his body. They seriously didn't stand a chance.

However, even with the advantage provided by Yuki Fladramon and Were Dorulumon, the fact remained that a much stronger adversary still awaited them at the glacier. Yuki Fladramon leapt high into the air, moving like a skilled acrobat, as his body became surrounded by an aura of cold fire. **"Ice Rocket!" **Then, picking out a bunch of Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon that had become clustered together in the confusion caused by trying to evade Were Dorulumon's relentless assault, Yuki Fladramon dove so that he impacted several enemies at once.

Between the two of them they had no trouble picking off any of the Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon that happened to get in the way. However, as the number of Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon began to dwindle and they came closer to the glacier, Waru Seadramon's huge, serpentine body filled the sky. He posed a much larger threat, both in both a literal and a figurative sense, than his far less imposing subordinates.

**"Evil Icicle!" **Waru Seadramon exhaled an enormous block of ice with a sharp edge at the approaching digimon.

Gururumon narrowly managed to veer out of the path of the falling block of ice. Zenjirou might have been thrown off by the sudden change in direction if not for the fact that he was clinging so fiercely to Taiki. As such, all that happened was that he slid slightly so that he was dangling off to one side of Gururumon's back.

**"Frozen Shield!" **Yuki Fladramon surrounded himself in an aura of cold fire to block the attack as he stood his ground. The block of ice collided with his defensive aura, but it wasn't strong enough to hold and Yuki Fladramon was crushed beneath the ice so that he became partially imbedded in the snow. After taking such a massive hit, Yuki Fladramon split back into Black Fladramon and Yuki Agumon. Both were down for the count.

Gururumon circled back so that Crystal could restore the two injured digimon to her Xros Loader. This also gave Taiki a chance to help Zenjirou straighten out into a more stable position so he wouldn't fall off when Gururumon started running again. Once Black Fladramon and Yuki Agumon were accounted for, Gururumon started toward the glacier again.

**"Evil Icicle!" **Waru Seadramon exhaled another block of sharpened ice.

This time, Were Dorulumon rushed in to intercept the attack. **"Dorulu Whirlwind Kick!"** He struck the ice with a strong kick, causing a fracture to form. The fracture spread and branched into multiple cracks in the ice until the entire piece finally shattered. The rotation of the turbine and drills on his leg produced a whirlwind that spread among the broken pieces to deflect them back at Waru Seadramon at an accelerated rate. The shards of ice punctured Waru Seadramon's serpentine body so that it became riddled with holes.

Waru Seadramon let out a vicious snarl. He then proceeded to absorb the remaining Hyougamon and Snow Goblimon in the vicinity into his body to repair the damage he had sustained and to increase his destructive power. This caused the serpent's body to become an icy blue color as icicles emerged in the places he had been injured.

**"Frozen Darkstrom!"** An eerie tidal wave of dark, frigid water began to rise from beneath the newly enhanced Waru Seadramon Ice Mode.

"We definitely need to get off the ground now," Crystal reacted quickly. "Zapmon, I really hope the cold hasn't slowed down your reaction time too badly." Holding onto Gururumon's fur with one hand, she used the other to hold up her Xros Loader. **"Zapmon, Gururumon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The color of Gururumon's fur changed from pale blue to black and his eyes turned silver. A series of dark and pale blue lightning bolt patterned stripes ran through its fur. Its paws transformed into scaled, draconic talons with metallic silver claws and its tail became serpentine. A pair of golden, draconic wings extended from either side of his back. **"X-Okamidramon!"**

X-Okamidramon quickly to the air with Gururumon's former passengers still hanging on for dear life. Zenjirou hung onto Taiki even more fiercely now that they were no longer touching the ground. They just barely managed to rise above the forming tidal wave.

"And you were worried," X-Okamidramon spoke with Zapmon's voice.

"Stay focused," Crystal stated simply. "We're not done here yet."

* * *

Below them, the dark wave washed over Were Dorulumon. The rotation of the turbines and drills on his body pushed the water away from his body as numerous swirling vortices began to form around him. The whirlpools spun violently as they spread through the water. Some of the raging torrents managed to break the surface of the huge wave to swirl haphazardly around Waru Seadramon.

Were Dorulumon threw a strong punch at the ground to launch himself upward, through the huge blanket of dark water, by riding on the resulting tornado. Then, once he got clear of the water, he quickly unleashed another frenzy of tornadoes from the numerous points of rotation on his body. **"Dorulu Backlash Hurricane!"** The high speed twisters projected off of the spinning drills on his body ripped into the icy serpent producing numerous points of impact before tearing Waru Seadramon to pieces.

With Waru Seadramon defeated, the dark water gradually receded until it became just another layer of ice on the already frozen ground of the Snow Zone. Once he was back on solid ground, Were Dorulumon split back into Dorulumon and Grappleomon.

* * *

After that they reached the glacier. The golden color of the Code Crown was clearly visible inside the thick, blue-green ice. It definitely wasn't going to be easy to break it out of there. Crystal, Taiki, Akari and Zenjirou dismounted X-Okamidramon once it was safe to stand on the ground again. Of course, since it was a new layer of ice, it was pretty slippery. Crystal seemed to have the most trouble standing on it.

"Alright, let's get this over with," X-Okamidramon was becoming rather impatient with being in this Zone. Hopefully the next one would be someplace warmer. **"Lunar Fire!"** X-Okamidramon exhaled a breath of pale, silver colored fire at the glacier to super heat the ice so it would fracture. Then, with a bit of effort and some luck, they might actually be able to punch through it to get to the Code Crown.

"Allow me to handle the rest," Grappleomon volunteered. The turbines on his arms began to spin even more rapidly as he struck the fractured ice of the glacier with his fists. **"Lion Beast Killing Wave!" **He left deep impressions of his fists in the ice as gravitational waves rippled from the point of impact and formed a narrow tunnel through the glacier leading straight to the position of the Code Crown within.

X-Okamidramon split back into Zapmon and Gururumon.

"Don't tell me someone has to crawl in there to go and get it," Zapmon grumbled. She didn't like the sound of that at all.

Fortunately, now that it had been freed from the ice, the Code Crown floated out of the passage on its own. Taiki reached out to grab it as it floated toward him, caught it, and promptly lost his footing on the ice so that he slid into Zenjirou and the both of them toppled onto the ice.

"Alright, we've done what we came here to do," Akari was ready to move on. "Let's get out of here."

"You know, maybe we should stop back at the Resort Zone to take a quick break at the hot springs," Crystal suggested. "I'm pretty sure after everything we've been through today we could really use the rest."

No one had any objections.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay. This chapter took a little bit longer than anticipated on account of things like Easter and the fact that I've been brainstorming what will take place in future chapters based on recent developments in the anime. With that in mind, from here on out things are just going to keep getting better. By the way, I spent about a month toying with the idea of creating a Were Dorulumon variant before my friend, unholy_blaze, recommended doing a Digi Xros with Grappleomon. I really like the way it turned out.


	14. Part 14

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay. Being bombarded with visiting relatives definitely hasn't been conducive to the whole writing process. Well, aside from giving me an excuse to watch more episodes during the intervening time between chapters so I can get a more solid grasp of the series. Anyway, let's just see how it goes from here.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 14 **_|

And so, the members of Xros Heart returned to the Resort Zone after their frigid ordeal in Snow Zone to be greeted by a somewhat familiar sight. They were immediately swarmed by numerous of Botamon, Chicomon, and Punimon, along with a handful of Koromon and Tsunomon bouncing along between them, with a lone Monodramon leading the pack of young digimon right up until the purple colored dragon bearing some resemblance to a small pterodactyl sprung into the air and swiftly knocked Crystal onto her back as the rest of the swarm finally caught up and surrounded the rest of the humans all the while cheering joyously at the return of the four humans and the few digimon that chosen to materialize from Crystal and Taiki's Xros Loaders respectively.

The impact caused Crystal to have the wind knocked out of her momentarily, but she recovered after spending a minute catching her breath while staring up at the sky looming above her, occasionally blocked out by the enormous silhouettes of Hououmon or Imperialdramon flying overhead. She was just about to ask the Monodramon if it would mind getting off of her when Zapmon decided to wedge herself between the human girl and the slightly larger dragon, easily shoving Monodramon aside.

"Hey, get off of her," Zapmon spoke in an unusually reprimanding tone. "I know it's exciting to see Crystal, but you really aren't as small as you used to be. You could hurt her."

"Huh?" Zenjirou was understandably puzzled by this and spoke up on behalf of the other assembled humans. "Wait, you mean you know this digimon?"

He might have been mistaken, but he definitely didn't recall seeing this particular digimon during their previous visit to the Resort Zone. But then, Crystal had been staying in the Resort Zone for several months before the rest of them met up with her so it was possible that she and Zapmon knew more of the residents.

"Sure I know him," Zapmon peered up at Zenjirou in total bafflement. "He was Chibimon."

"So you're saying that he's actually the same digimon as the one who tackled Crystal the last time we were here, is that right?" Taiki started to employ his powers of deduction. "Does that mean that he somehow changed from one kind of digimon into another?"

"Something like that," Slashmon materialized and readily began to explain the situation. "Chibimon has entered into the next stage of his life cycle and evolved into Monodramon."

"Evolved, huh?" Zenjirou looked like he was deep in thought, but then he gave up with an exaggerated sigh. "I don't really get it."

"It's really very simple," Slashmon continued. "When the necessary conditions are met, digimon evolve to the next available stage in their life cycle until we reach our natural limit."

"It sounds like a very different concept of evolution than we have in the human world," Akari finally commented.

"It works for me," Crystal sat up with her legs crossed.

"Anyway," Monodramon interrupted. He paused and poked the tips of his clawed fingers together uncertainly. "I've gotten strong enough to fight on my own now. Do you think that maybe you could take me with you when you set out again?"

"Well, if that's what you really want to do, then..." Crystal paused for dramatic effect with a serious expression on her face, but then she broke into a silly grin. "Sure, why not? How about we start by testing out a new Digi Xros."

Monodramon still looked pretty nervous until Crystal finally gave him the go ahead. "Um, okay! I'll do my best!"

"Here we go," Crystal lifted her Xros Loader into the air. **"Zapmon, Monodramon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The two digimon came together so that Monodramon took on the form of a rigid, sturdy pair of wings that encompassed Zapmon's entire body. **"Monodra Glider!"**

"Great, now let's see what we can do with it," Crystal put away her Xros Loader and lifted the newly digi-xrossed digimon over her head. She took a look around to determine the direction of the closest edge of the floating continent that served as the central hub of the Resort Zone. Once she had that figured out she took off at a run, eventually disappearing over the side of the floating continent once she had put some distance between herself and the rest of the group.

"Didn't we come back here to take a break?" Akari watched in shocked disbelief as Crystal vanished over the side of the floating continent on the makeshift hang glider.

"That girl must be crazy," Zenjirou stated simply.

"I dunno, that kind of looks like fun," Taiki was no help at all.

"Shouldn't we go make sure they land safely?" Shoutmon asked of no one in particular. There didn't appear to be any immediate danger, but confirmation might help to ease some of their worries, not that Taiki seemed to have any.

Slashmon shrugged. "Let them have their fun," he spoke with a slight chuckle. "It will help them to strengthen their bonds."

* * *

It wasn't long until night fell over the Resort Zone. The sky was clear and filled with stars. And, after spending some quality time spent relaxing in the hot springs, the assembled humans were decidedly underdressed, being clad in bathrobes held in place with simple sashes as they regrouped at a nearby ramen stall operated by a Bakumon. Clearly, whoever is in charge of this particular narrative isn't even trying to be subtle about the amount of fan service going on.

Zapmon slurped her ramen while sitting cross-legged atop Crystal's head like an elaraborate, dragon-shaped headdress. The human girl had remained kind of distant since they had separated from the rest of the group during that little stunt earlier in the afternoon. However, this gradual change in attitude hadn't gone unnoticed. Taiki was a little too perceptive for that.

"What's wrong?" Taiki was just as thoughtful and sincere as ever, but it still threw Crystal off guard because she had been so deep in thought.

"She wants to prove herself so she's been contemplating doing something kind of stupid," Zapmon interjected after swallowing another mouthful of ramen.

"It's not stupid," Crystal quickly went on the defensive. "I just think we might be able to make more of a contribution to this team by traveling separately for awhile. We might even be able to liberate Zones a little bit faster."

"Like I said, it's stupid. We've been making excellent progress already," Zapmon responded before slurping up another mouthful of ramen.

"Hold on," Akari decided to interrupt the conflicted exchange. "Weren't you the ones who were going on about how the Xros Loaders resonate with each other and how much stronger you can be by working together?"

"That's true," Crystal answered with a sigh. "I've also seen that you guys work well enough without my help. That's why I think it might be more efficient for us to travel separately."

"I see," Taiki finally rejoined the conversation. "You might be right about that."

"Anyway," Crystal continued. "I know it will be more dangerous, but I think it will be worth the effort if it means being able to cover more ground and releasing more digimon from the control of the Bagra Empire."

"Well, if that's your choice, I really can't stop you," Taiki didn't see any reason to argue. He had seen that Crystal's team could handle themselves when they got into trouble. "Just don't hesitate to send for help if you get into a situation you can't handle on your own."

"Alright, but that goes for you too," Crystal answered in agreement.

"Ballistamon, mind preparing another Wrister?" Taiki turned his attention to the insectoid machine digimon.

A few seconds later Ballistamon's chest compartment flipped open. "Ready," he announced helpfully.

"If you're in range, you can use this to stay in touch," Taiki explained as he handed the newly manufactured Wrister over to Crystal.

"I'll have to remember that," Crystal accepted the Wrister and put it on the wrist of her right arm, typical of someone who happens to be left handed. Not really important in the long run, but certainly worth mentioning for informational reasons.

* * *

Crystal arrived in the Time Zone early the following morning. It was a Zone with a landscape made entirely from the faces of different varieties of clocks with both analogue and digital displays. Some of the faces were running backward while the vast majority of them were running forward. Some used Roman numerals and others utilized military time. Some of them ticked away noisily while others were totally silent. All in all, it made it virtually impossible to discern what the actual time was supposed to be. More to the point, Crystal didn't really have the time to think about it because as soon as she arrived she was greeted by the sight of a frightened group of Clockmon fleeing from a pursuing group of the Bagra Empire's Giromon and Tekkamon.

"We just got here and it looks like we already have our work cut out for us," Crystal stood her ground and held out her silver Xros Loader.

**"Silver Lightning!"** Zapmon emerged from Crystal's Xros Loader and materialized amidst the semi-spherical machine digimon as a dome of silver colored electricity was dispersed from the surface of her body to immobilize the enemy digimon that surrounded her.

"Works for me," the small dragon remarked once she had stunned several of the Giromon and Tekkamon. "Means we won't have to go looking for them."

"Anyway, let's finish what we've started," Crystal spun the dial on her Xros Loader and pressed her thumb down on the middle button to verify her selection. **"Zapmon, Raptordramon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The two digimon came together as Raptordramon's head and neck shrunk back into his armor and the armor on his back opened out into a small cockpit for Zapmon to stand in. **"Raptor Tank!"**

"Now to get rid of the enemy," Zapmon declared as she took to the controls of the Raptor Tank like a pro. **"Ground Breaker!"** The Raptor Tank stomped on the ground to open a fissure causing the clock faces in the immediate area to shatter as they sank into the ground along with the paralyzed Giromon and Tekkamon. After that, Zapmon maneuvered the Raptor Tank in a charge against any remaining Giromon and Tekkamon in the vicinity utilizing the armored blades on either side to cut them down. **"Bladed Impulse!"**

Once the enemy digimon had been thoroughly eliminated, Zapmon and Raptordramon broke from their Digi Xros so that only the two of them were left standing.

"Nicely done," Crystal congradulated them. "Now, let's see if we can catch up with those other digimon to find out more about this Zone to see how else we can be of help."

She loaded Raptordramon back into her Xros Loader and reloaded Lighdramon for transport. A moment later she and Zapmon were in position on Lighdramon's back to race swiftly after the Clockmon that had been fleeing from the army of Giromon and Tekkamon that had just been defeated.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Note: Just to let everyone know, there's no need to panic. Taiki, Akari and Zenjirou will return along with all of the digimon belonging to Xros Heart in the near future. This is just a temporary subplot for the sake of character development. And an excuse to show off some other Digi Xros variants. That is all.


	15. Part 15

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **|_** Part 15 **_|

It took awhile for Team Epoch to catch up to the retreating Clockmon, in part, because they ended up having to backtrack when they realized the Clockmon were no longer ahead of them. It happened instaneously and it took a few minutes for Zapmon to sniff out their trail back the way they had come from. Lighdramon got himself turned around and began dashing back the way they had come from and, sure enough, the Clockmon were ahead of them again.

"How the heck did they do that?" Zapmon sounded somewhere between annoyed and impressed. The small dragon folded her arms over her chest. "Sheesh, we're trying to help these guys and they're still running away from us."

"Actually, they've stopped running," Lighdramon informed her. The beast digimon had already slowed his pace to accomodate for the fact that the Clockmon were no longer in motion. In fact, they appeared to be waiting for them.

* * *

"Our apologies for putting you through all that trouble," the lead Clockmon spoke up once Team Epoch had finally caught up with them. "Time travel is a somewhat unpredictable mode of transportation."

"Time travel?" Zapmon thought that sounded pretty dubious to say the least. She remained perched on Crystal's shoulder as the human girl climbed down from Lighdramon's back to greet the Clockmon.

"Hm, I suppose time travel would be one way to put it," Crystal commented once she had her feet back on the ground. "Of course, another way is to say they moved through space without moving through time at all. What we witnessed would imply that they traveled from point A to point B without tangibly crossing the distance between them."

"Come again?" Zapmon stared at her.

"What? I like science fiction," Crystal responded with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, you'd be right," the lead Clockmon acknowledged. "I really must commend you for being able to discern our location so soon after we repositioned ourselves. But, as you can see, slipping back to a point we've already been to is much faster than walking."

"I'll give you that," Lighdramon remarked. "Even with my speed I couldn't keep track of that level of movement."

"Anyway," the Clockmon continued. "You have our thanks for taking out those Bagra Empire soliders, but I'm afraid the main force has already conquered Time Warp City and will soon claim access to the Temporal Tower."

"Time Warp City? Temporal Tower? Well, with a landscape like this, I guess it's not surprising that everyone here seems to have time on the brain," Zapmon rolled her eyes at the obvious naming scheme.

"Still, I have a feeling that we've really got to stop them," Crystal decided.

"That would be wise," the Clockmon interjected. "For you see, if they obtain this Time Zone's Code Crown, they will be able to use Temporal Tower to travel into the past and potentially alter the Digital World's history."

Zapmon froze. Even she knew what that would mean. "Well, okay then. That's enough talking. Why don't you just point us to this Time Warp City you were telling us about and we'll trounce the Bagra Empire's forces before they can make it that far."

"But even the Time Zone's guardian has been defeated by Aegisdramon," the Clockmon warned them.

"Then we're just going to have to cross that bridge when we get to it," Crystal stated simply. "We came here to help liberate those who have been victimized by the Bagra Empire," she added as she held up her Xros Loader. "We're Team Epoch, transcending time and space!" She paused and added, "And also recently affiliated with Xros Heart."

"You do realize that you sound like a total dork when you say stuff like that, right?" Zapmon couldn't believe some of the stuff that came out of her general's mouth. The small dragon looked back to the Clockmon. "So, about pointing us in the right direction so we don't get ourselves lost trying to liberate this Zone?"

The Clockmon finally obliged.

* * *

It really wasn't difficult to spot the city or the tower. In fact, it would have been more difficult to spot one without also finding the other in the process. The buildings in Time Warp City were literally built from numerous clocks of all shapes and sizes somehow fitted together to provide almost coherent architecture. Temporal Tower was constructed in the same way, but on a significantly larger scale. Even as they flew over the city on Gryphomon, Crystal and Zapmon were unable to see the top of the tower breaking through the clouds. It was like staring up the trunk a Sequoia tree while standing beneath it.

And there, at the foot of Temporal Tower, was the enormous white tiger, Baihumon, collapsed in a pile of rubble that seemed to match a similarly shaped indentation in the base of the tower that must have resulted from a recent impact. Whatever had hit Baihumon had to have been very powerful indeed.

"Now that's one tall tower," Zapmon stared at Temporal Tower in awe.

"And that's one huge digimon," Crystal was more concerned about the fallen guardian.

There were already numerous Giromon and Tekkamon flooding the streets with more of them gradually pouring out from the Blimpmon carriers waiting on the outskirts of the city. There wasn't any visible sign of the digimon called Aegisdramon, but that didn't mean he wasn't still in the area.

"You ready to get started?" Crystal only asked as a formality. She could tell that Zapmon had been itching to fight ever since they had taken down that small batch of enemies shortly after their arrival in the Time Zone.

"Gryphomon, I'm leaving our general in your protection while I go down there to blast some bad guys," Zapmon confirmed.

Crystal held up her silver Xros Loader and spun the dial to input the digimon she had selected for this particular Digi Xros. **"Zapmon, Gururumon, Lighdramon, Raptordramon, Togemogumon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The digimon came together to form the familiar shape of X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode with the addition of Raptordramon mounted onto the right arm in the form of a dragon-shaped crossbow and with Togemogumon mounted onto the back of the left arm taking on the form of a spike-covered shield. **"X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode + Dragon Crossbow + Diamond Shield!"**

**"Icicle Swarm!" **X-Zapdramon immediately launched fired off the icy quills from the Diamond Shield to form a barrage of sharp, pointed projectiles to rain down on the enemy Giromon and Tekkamon with devastating accuracy. New quills quickly grew in place of the ones that had been fired already. "And now," X-Zapdramon spun in the air to target each of the Blimpmon in turn. **"Thousand Arrow Storm!"** The Dragon Crossbow unleashed a hail of energy projectiles to strike down each of the Blimpmon and any remaining Giromon or Tekkamon passengers that might have been onboard in a rapid sequence of explosions. Of course, there were still plenty more Giromon and Tekkamon roaming the streets, but after that first wave they were fewer in number and much more spread out. It would take awhile to get rid of them all.

"I've got us covered out here," X-Zapdramon informed Crystal.

"Then I'll go check on Baihumon and take the rest of the team into the tower to confront any enemies that might already have gotten in," Crystal responded.

* * *

Baihumon had already lost consciousness and parts of his body had begun to destabilize, but it seemed that Crystal had gotten to him in time and he was now safely stored inside of her Xros Loader on the road to recovery. However, while there were substantially fewer enemies inside of Temporal Tower, the fact remained that they were slowly navigating their way up the tower and it was vitally necessary to prevent any of them from making it all the way to the top.

"Reload Slashmon, Black Fladramon, Ryuudamon, Yuki Agumon, Dorumon, Monodramon," Crystal held up her Xros Loader to summon the small group of dragons and dinosaurs. "I'll be counting on the six of you to block any more Bagra Empire forces from making it into the tower while the rest of us fly to the top."

"Understood," Slashmon stated in response. **"Spit Fire!"** He exhaled a barrage of golden fireballs at a group of Giromon and Tekkamon crowding around the entrance.

"We won't let you down," added Monodramon. **"Beat Knuckle!"** Monodramon smashed through one of the Giromon that managed to slip past Slashmon with his fist.

"Go on ahead," added Black Fladramon. "We can handle these smallfrys." His flame gauntlets lit up as he tossed another flurry of fireballs at the next wave of Giromon and Tekkamon trying to make it through the entrance to the tower. **"Knuckle Fire!"**

* * *

**"Fan Beemonz Digi Xros!" **Crystal held up her Xros Loader once again as Gryphomon began traveling up the tower.

**"Digi Xros!" ** Twenty-seven Fan Beemonz quickly began a squad of nine Waspmonz. **"Waspmonz!"**

"Spread out and make sure there aren't any other enemies inside of the tower," Crystal instructed them. The insectoid cyborgs quickly dispersed to investigate the interior of the tower while Crystal continued her ascent on Gryphomon.

* * *

The ascent seemed to take forever, but eventually they made it to the top of the tower and emerged from a passageway onto the roof. Except that it wasn't the roof. It was just a wide open balcony surrounding a smaller central tower that pierced even further into the heavens.

"Give me a break," Crystal stared at the second tower in dismay. At least there didn't appear to be any enemy digimon that had made it up this far. The balcony was deserted apart from her and Gryphomon.

"Should we continue traveling upward?" Gryphomon inquired. That was when they both spotted Aegisdramon circling around the second tower.

"It looks like that won't be necessary," Crystal answered automatically. She held up her Xros Loader. "Reload Thunderbirmon," she summoned the last of her digimon so that only Baihumon remainded inside. "Tell X-Zapdramon that we've found Aegisdramon. We'll try to keep him busy until you get back."

"Be careful," Thunderbirmon responded before going into a steep dive over the edge of the enormous balcony.

"I would advise you to hang on tight," Gryphomon instructed Crystal as he prepared to draw Aegisdramon's attention to the two of them. Crystal quickly heeded his advice. **"Super Sonic Voice!"** Gryphomon emitted a high frequency blast of sound at the cyborg digimon as it made another pass around the tower. Aegisdramon had probably been waiting for the rest of his forces to catch up, but Crystal had already seen to it that that wouldn't be possible.

Anyway, they had Aegisdramon's attention. Gryphomon swiftly flew away from the balcony with the huge, angry cyborg in hot pursuit.

* * *

By the time Thunderbirmon located X-Zapdramon, the troops of Giromon and Tekkamon were making a hasty retreat only to get bombarded with the next wave of icicles or energy projectiles. As such, X-Zapdramon didn't have to worry about ending the assault to go help Crystal. Aside from Aegisdramon, they had the rest of the enemy digimon on the run. However, there was still the small matter of making it to Crystal and Gryphomon in time.

At first all that was in X-Zapdramon's field of vision was the tower and the open expanse of the sky filled with light fluffy clouds further ahead. Eventually bright flashes of light, the tell-tale signature of an ongoing battle became visible through the clouds.

* * *

The battle was fairly one-sided. Gryphomon was small and agile, enabling the phantom beast to narrowly avoid being blasted by Aegisdramon's extremely flashy attacks. However, Gryphomon couldn't do anything to fight back either so the two it was really more of a stalement. However, their strategy was doing its job. Gryphomon's diversionary tactics were buying time for X-Zapdramon's eventual arrival and then they would be able to make a comeback.

Speaking of which...

**"Diamond Spear Guard!"** X-Zapdramon burst through the clouds as the Diamond Shield expanded to cover more surface area as X-Zapdramon slammed into Aegisdramon from below. The impact caused Aegisdramon to spiral haphazardly through the air, but it was only a matter of time until the huge cyborg managed to stabilize himself to resume his assault.

"This is cutting it way too close," X-Zapdramon scolded Crystal. "What if I hadn't made it time in?"

"I was confident that you would," Crystal answered with a sheepish grin.

"Well, fine then," X-Zapdramon conceded. "But we've still got to beat that thing and tackling it like that barely even put a dent in that metal armor."

Baihumon materialized from Crystal's Xros Loader to stand on the massive balcony of the Temporal Tower. The white tiger's life was no longer in any danger, but he still looked like he was in pretty rough shape.

"Hang on, you're still injured!" Crystal quickly called out to Baihumon.

"I'll survive," Baihumon answered in a low growl. "In the meantime, if you can swat Aegisdramon over in this direction, my claws will make quick work of that overgrown cyborg."

"I guess it's worth a shot," X-Zapdramon responded. "But you'd better be right about that because I doubt we'll be able to try this more than once."

"Well, if you're both sure about this," Crystal was still concerned about Baihumon, but if he wanted to fight Aegisdramon, then she couldn't really argue with him about it. She held up her Xros Loader. **"X-Zapdramon, Thunderbirmon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!" ** Thunderbirmon's body folded in half to form a symmetrical double blade while his legs transformed into the hilt of a sword with his tail serving as a makeshift armguard. X-Zapdramon gripped the newly formed sword with both hands. **"Feather Blade!"**

X-Zapdramon circled under Aegisdramon as the cyborg finally righted himself. **"Spark Blade!"** A strong electric field quickly covered the entire length of the Feather Blade as X-Zapdramon swung the sword like a baseball bat to smack Aegisdramon toward the eagerly waiting Baihumon.

Baihumon reered up on his hindlegs and slashed at Aegisdramon with the enormous claws on his forepaws. **"Iron Claws!"** Aegisdramon's forward momentum only made it easier for Baihumon's claws to tear right through him as the huge cyborg finally exploded into a golden cloud of data.

* * *

X-Zapdramon joined Crystal and Gryphomon on the balcony along with Baihumon as the Digi Xros finally disengaged into its composite digimon. Baihumon easily towered over all of them, but he was still dwarfed by the sheer size of Temporal Tower.

"You know, I'm not sure I have it in me to climb the rest of the way to the top right now," Zapmon grimaced at the prospect. "That fight was exhausting."

"I hear you," Crystal was in total agreement. "But we don't really have a choice. Clockmon said the Code Crown is in the tower."

"Under the tower, actually," Baihumon corrected her. "The tower is just for show."

Crystal and Zapmon both fell over.

"You mean this whole tower is just a huge diversion?" Zapmon managed to find her voice. "That's insane!"

"It worked, didn't it?" Baihumon seemed to be genuinely amused by their reaction.

"No kidding," Crystal had to admit even she had been completely fooled.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: Oh yeah, I definitely went overboard with this chapter.


	16. Part 16

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 16 **_|

Crystal eventually reached the foot of the tower, gathering up the rest of her scattered team along the way. The going was slow because Baihumon had insisted she give her digimon time to rest in her Xros Loader and had volunteered to transport her down himself. Baihumon was probably the biggest digimon Crystal had seen in the time she had spent in the Digital World, larger even than Imperialdramon, but still the tower was even larger. It took a lot longer to climb down all those rickety steps of broken clocks than it had taken to fly up them on Gryphomon.

Eventually though, they did reach the bottom. When they got there, what could only be described as the Clockmon Elder was there waiting for them. Of course, the only difference between him and the other Clockmon was the presence of a white beard and mustache, and the fact that the hands of his clock face had also been grown over with thick white hair.

"Well done young general," the Clockmon Elder addressed Crystal. "The Bagra Empire has finally withdrawn from our damaged city and we will be able to rebuild thanks to you."

Baihumon crouched down so that Crystal could slide down from his massive back more easily without bringing harm to herself in the process. Crystal did so and continued the rest of the way to the Clockmon Elder on her own two feet.

"Unfortunately my success here is only temporary until I can retrieve the Code Crown," she explained to the Clockmon Elder. "I know for a fact that as long as the Code Crown for this Zone remains unclaimed it will continue to be a target of the Bagra Empire."

The Clockmon Elder nodded. "What you say is undoubtedly correct. I will show you the way into the chamber that rests beneath Temporal Tower."

* * *

The floor of the tower looked, at first glance, to be a completely solid construction made from countless metal gears. In fact, even a second glance wouldn't have made the presence of a passage to a lower chamber particularly obvious. However, the large gear at the center of the floor was in actuality a humongous door that could only be moved by reversing the time around it so that it became raised into the air. The whole process kind of reminded Crystal of a certain video game.

Once the passage was open, Crystal followed the Clockmon Elder down the steps into the lower chamber. What awaited her down there was something totally unexpected. It was a huge, circular room with a seemingly infinite number of monitors built into the surrounding wall. And, as Crystal entered the room, many of the monitors lit up with graphical representations of the digimon contained within her silver Xros Loader during various stages of their collective life cycles, past, present, and future.

Panels on the floor, also constructed from countless metal gears like the floor above, were engraved with representations of highly varied geographies.

"These 108 here at the center represent all of those Zones that constitute our Digital World," the Clockmon Elder explained. "Our ancestors who built this Temporal Tower passed on a legend that the rest of these engravings are representations of the other Digital Worlds strewn throughout the multiverse transcending both space and time, not unlike your own Team Epoch."

"That has to be a coincidence," Crystal found it hard to believe that the lame catchphrase she had come up with to describe her team had any relevance in the room she was standing in now.

"Young general, I hope that someday you might come to realize there is no such thing as coincidence," the Clockmon Elder answered in response.

"I feel like I've heard that somewhere before," Crystal scratched behind her ear. "Anyway, I'm interested to know why it is that these monitors appear to show the life cycles of all the digimon on my team, but they don't display any Digi Xros variants."

"The ability to Digi Xros isn't governed by the flow of time," the Clockmon Elder explained. "Now come, we must still go down another floor."

* * *

As they descended the steps to the next floor down Crystal could swear that the staircase was moving. Sure enough, it was constructed onto a swinging pendulum so that she and the Clockmon Elder had to jump across onto the main staircase with careful timing so as not to fall all the way to the bottom of the circular chamber. Fortunately, they were both able to make it without incident, although it wasn't quite as much of a challenge for the old digimon as it was for the young human who still had to adhere to the laws of physics.

_This place is like one of those platforming video games where the architecture is out to get you every step of the way,_ Crystal thought once she felt confident in her footing on the solid, unmoving staircase that was actually bolted to the floor of the room instead of swaying haphazardly from the ceiling. She followed the Clockmon Elder to the bottom of the stairs and was finally privileged with the sight of the golden glow of the Code Crown levitating over a pedestal of gears and clocks. And, also there, fitted into the central gear at the top of the pedestal was a single Digi-Memory.

"Go on and take it," the Clockmon Elder urged her forward. Crystal nodded slowly and moved toward the pedestal. The Code Crown shined brightly so that it momentarily illuminated the entire chamber before finally floating away from the pedestal to settle before Crystal. The girl reached out her hand to take it and once she had it in her grasp the golden diamond that surrounded the inner cartridge rapidly dispersed. An image of a silver shooting star covered the front of the cartridge.

"Well, I guess that wasn't so hard," Crystal heaved a sigh of relief that there were apparently no more challenges for her to overcome inside of Temporal Tower. The Time Zone had accepted her as its new master. She approached the pedestal to also retrieve the Digi-Memory. "Chronomon Holy Mode, huh? He looks like he must have been a very powerful digimon."

"He was the guardian deity of Temporal Tower before this Digital World was broken into separate Zones," the Clockmon Elder explained. "I hope his power will be of use to you as you continue your journey to liberate our world."

* * *

Crystal was knocked to the floor as a sudden jolt caused a massive tremor to rock the whole tower. No longer content with resting off the fatigue from the last battle, Zapmon quickly emerged from the girl's Xros Loader.

"That didn't sound good," noted the small dragon as the Clockmon Elder helped Crystal get back on her feet. However, the next tremor sent them both toppling to the floor again as bits of the ceiling started to crumble loose. "Let's get out of here before we're all buried alive!"

"Good idea," Crystal struggled onto her feet a second time and held up her Xros Loader. **"Zapmon, Slashmon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The two digimon came together taking on the form of a somewhat larger dragon. **"X-Zapdramon Dragon Mode!"**

Crystal hefted herself onto X-Zapdramon Dragon Mode's back as the dragon prepared to rise from the ground. Then, as soon as X-Zapdramon was off the ground, the dragon lifted the Clockmon Elder using its strong forearms before navigating up past the first set of stairs and then up past the stairs mounted on the swinging pendulum into the room full of monitors. After that they just kept flying up until they emerged into the bottom floor of the actual tower. However, when they got there it quickly became apparent that Temporal Tower was no longer standing and Baihumon was once again in a crumbled heap amidst the rubble. And there, standing over the fallen white tiger, was Dark Knightmon.

Crystal had never actually encountered him before, but just being in his presence was enough to give her a bad feeling. And, of course, the army of Kyuukimon that were accompanying him definitely help that feeling. Crystal quickly slid down off the back of X-Zapdramon Dragon Mode as the Digi Xrossed digimon set down the Clockmon Elder and flew higher into the air.

**"Air Blade!"** X-Zapdramon Dragon Mode flapped rapidly flapped its wings sending of blades of highly pressurized air to cut down several of the Kyuukimon, but it was clear that there were far too many of them for the attack to put much of a dent in their overall numbers.

Crystal sighed, closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind so she could focus on the situation at hand. She hadn't come to liberate the Time Zone just to watch it become conquered again. Still, she couldn't see how she was going to win against these odds either. _Alright, then I'm just going to have to stall for time instead._ She held up her Xros Loader. "Reload, Black Fladramon!"

She placed a restraining hand on his forearm before he could charge into battle. "Hold it, there's something else I need for you to do."

"But we're already at a disadvantage," Black Fladramon protested. "Surely you can sense that this enemy is powerful."

"Believe me, I noticed," Crystal answered hurriedly. "That's why I need you to go find Taiki and the others. Since I know you can handle traveling in the digital space between Zones, I need you to tell them that we're in desperate need of backup here. Go back to the Resort Zone and take Imperialdramon if you have to. Just make it quick."

"I understand," Black Fladramon nodded solemnly. "Please be careful until I return."

"I'll do the best I can," Crystal held up her Xros Loader again. "Now, Zone Transfer! Get moving!"

Black Fladramon vanished through the resulting portal, leaving Crystal to cope with the situation as best she could with what remained of her team of digimon. At least they'd all gotten a little rest since the last battle, although she wasn't at all certain how long that was going to sustain them.

"Alright then, let's start by making a diversion," Crystal held up her Xros Loader again. "Reload, Waspmonz!"

**"Turbo Stinger!"** Each of the Waspmonz swiftly opened fire on the army of Kyuukimon with their laser cannons.

**"Piercing Meteor!"** X-Zapdramon Dragon Mode flew high into the air and then swooped down with the sharp claws of its forearms extended in front as it rammed sharply into Dark Knightmon to knock him away from the wounded Baihumon. That bought Crystal time to make her way over to the white tiger to gather him into her Xros Loader.

"You should leave this place while you are still able," Baihumon began to protest.

"Sorry, but I can't do that," Crystal responded. "I've already made up my mind to defend this place until help arrives."

"In that case, we could use a little more firepower, don't you think?" X-Zapdramon Dragon Mode suggested.

"Sure thing, just don't tire yourselves out before the others get here," Crystal nodded. She held up her Xros Loader once again. **"X-Zapdramon Dragon Mode, Gururumon, Lighdramon, Ryuudamon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The selected digimon came together to take on the familiar form of X-Slashdramon, this time adorned in the samurai armor typically worn by Ryuudamon and wielding a massive katana in each hand. **"X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode!"**

"And, while we're at it," Crystal didn't stop there. **"Waspmonz Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The nine Waspmonz quickly became three enormous Cannonbeemonz. **"Cannon Beemonz!"**

**"Sky Rocker Infinity!"** The Cannon Beemonz simlutaneously opened fire on the army of Kyuukimon with a continuous barrage from the hexagonal compartments on each of their respective backs. That would probably keep the Kyuukimon busy for awhile leaving X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode free to concentrate on Dark Knightmon.

**"Triple Blade Lightning!"** X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode's body became surrounded by a prismatic electric field that quickly became concentrated along the blade extending from its right arm as well as the blades of the two katanas it held in either hand. X-Slashdramon went after Dark Knightmon, not hesitating to swing the crackling, intensely electrified blades at the evil knight digimon.

Dark Knightmon parried each blow effortlessly, eventually striking X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode back with a sharp blow to the chest from his twin spear.

"This is unexpected," Dark Knightmon turned to Crystal while her primary attacker was momentarily stunned. "I had heard that the girl wielding the silver Xros Loader had joined forces with Xros Heart and yet, here you are."

"I did," Crystal answered automatically. "I just decided we might be able to cover more ground separately is all."

"You are a long way from your friends," Dark Knightmon continued. "And fighting very recklessly."

"Yeah, well, considering who my opponent is, I wouldn't last long by being careful," Crystal retorted.

"You said it!" X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode had made a miraculous recovery and the surface of the warrior's body appeared to have caught fire. **"X Supernova Strike!"** The flames became white hot as X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode crossed its twin katanas in front of it to form an x-shape as X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode promptly slammed into Dark Knightmon again as the flames exploded outward to engulf him.

Dark Knightmon brushed it off and sent X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode reeling back with a sharp blow from the huge axe on his left shoulder.

"I can see that you do indeed have some skill," Dark Knightmon acknowledged his opponent. "However, those skills won't save you. **Darkness Loader Forced Digi Xros!"**

The remaining Kyuukimon were instantly fused into a single massive Kyuukimon with an extra pair of scythe-bladed arms. It was even larger than the huge Cannon Beemonz that had been holding off all of the smaller Kyuukimon up until that point.

**"Huge Blade Twister!"** The massive Kyuukimon spun in place and simultaneously struck each of the Cannon Beemonz with the scythe blades on each of its four arms so rapidly they didn't even feel it until after the Digi Xros that had sustained them was forcefully broken and the original 27 Fan Beemonz that had been Digi Xrossed suddenly fell from the sky. The exhausted insects were quickly drawn back into Crystal's Xros Loader. With that done, the massive bewitching beast rounded on the slowly recovering form of X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode.

**"Heated Crescents!"** X-Slashdramon ignited the surface of the twin katanas it wielded in white hot blames before swinging them both at the massive Kyuukimon to produce flaming crescent shaped projectile shockwaves in an effort to incinerate the scythe-armed digimon before it could get any closer. It had absolutely no effect at all. X-Slashdramon Samurai Mode didn't feel it when the spinning beast started cutting into the warrior's body with the four massive scythes, but the composite digimon knew they must have been hit when their Digi Xros rapidly came apart and they were strewn haphazardly to the ground before being drawn into Crystal's Xros Loader.

"And now, my dear, you have no chance at all," Dark Knightmon assured the human girl. Crystal could only look on in horror as her whole strategy was breaking down in front of her.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter took a little more time to fully flesh out, in part because there have been quite a lot of other distractions in town such as the state fair last week, but also because I realized there were so many possibilities for how I could have taken it and this is the version that won out.


	17. Part 17

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 17 **_|

_**"Digi-Memory, Chronomon Holy Mode!" **_Crystal suddenly remembered the other item she had retrieved from the hidden room beneath Temporal Tower just before it collapsed. She inserted the cartridge into the slot on her Xros Loader. _**"Holy Flare! Activate!"**_

The semi-transparent projection of Chronomon Holy Mode materialized in front of her with his arms folded in front of him so that the markings on his arms produced a complete image of the sun. The sun-shaped symbol started to glow with a light as bright as the sun that became a powerful beam of a pure light energy that threatened to engulf both Dark Knightmon and the massive, four-armed Kyuukimon. However, Dark Knightmon's loyal subordinate quickly moved into the path of the devastating attack to shield Dark Knightmon from receiving any damage by taking it in his place. As such, the massive Kyuukimon took the full force of Chronomon Holy Mode's attack and was instantly reduced to a harmless cloud of data while Dark Knightmon came out of the experience completely unscathed.

"Your resilience is impressive," Dark Knightmon acknowledged the human general. "However, now you are completely defenseless."

"And you greatly underestimate my capacity for losing battles," Crystal retorted. She held up her Xros Loader. **"Dorumon, Raptordramon, Thunderbirmon, Gryphomon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The digimon she had selected came together and assumed the shape of a four-winged, draconic quadruped with Thunderbirmon's wings in front and Gryphomon's wings positioned behind them. The upper body had Gryphomon's coloration while the underbelly was the same vibrant orange as Raptordramon's main body. Thunderbirmon's facial mask with its central spike shaped like a bolt of lightning covered the dragon's face surrounding the red, triangular interface from Dorumon's forehead. The tip of the dragon's tail was equipped with a large black metal trident formed from the back spike and bladed wing-like extensions from Raptordramon's armor. **"Doruguremon!"**

The newly Digi Xrossed digimon immediately took on a defensive stance facing Dark Knightmon.

_This should at least buy us a little more time for the others to get here,_ Crystal thought as Doruguremon prepared to face off against Dark Knightmon.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Imperialdramon flew over the desert outskirts of the appropriately named Fossil Zone, Black Fladramon finally spotted the members of Xros Heart locked in battle with the Bagra Army's Spinomon accompanied by a whole unit of Skull Baluchimon. Of course, they didn't have time to wait for them to finish.

**"Position Laser!"** Imperialdramon fired the massive spiraling beam from his main cannon causing the beam to split multiple times so that he could strike down all of the enemy digimon simultaneously. Once that was taken care of, the huge dragon transported Black Fladramon onto the ground using his tractor beam.

"That's weird, what's Black Fladramon doing here with Imperialdramon?" Akari quickly caught on to the overall strangeness of the situation. "Wasn't he with Crystal?"

"I was," Black Fladramon explained urgently. "However, we were blindsided by a powerful enemy after we thought we had cleared out the Bagra Army's forces in the Time Zone. She sent me to get help."

"Then we shouldn't waste time talking about it," Taiki could easily detect the seriousness of the situation just by listening to the flame armored digimon. "Take us to her."

* * *

**"Bloody Tower!"** Doruguremon struggled to deflect continuous blows from Dark Knightmon's twin spear using the blades on his tail. Dark Knightmon had him completely on the defensive and the four-winged dragon was tiring quickly since Dorumon wasn't really accustomed to being the core component in a Digi Xros. With each successive blow he deflected he could feel himself growing weaker until he could no longer hold the form of the Digi Xros and until Dorumon and the rest of the digimon that composed Doruguremon collapsed to the ground in an exhausted heap.

"Sorry Crystal," Dorumon apologized. "I just couldn't hold it together anymore."

"Don't worry about it," Crystal responded as she loaded the four collapsed digimon into her Xros Loader. "We're all pretty tired and you did the best you could."

However, she knew she couldn't hold out much longer now that only Togemogumon, Yuki Agumon and Monodramon had any strength left on her team. _Black Fladramon, where are you?_ Crystal thought, finally dreading the possibility that help might not be coming in time.

**"Giga Death!"** Imperialdramon appeared suddenly in the sky and shot a condensed blast of dark matter from his mouth at Dark Knightmon, which the evil knight easily deflected with the huge axe on his shoulder, but it still managed to divert Dark Knightmon's attention away from Crystal.

"Took you long enough!" Crystal was relieved, to say the least.

"The search took longer than expected," Black Fladramon spoke apologetically. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Picking a fight with Dark Knightmon by yourself, do you have a deathwish?" Zenjirou hadn't overlooked who the powerful enemy Black Fladramon had mentioned turned out to be.

"Hey, I sent for backup!" Crystal protested.

"And just what do you think would have happened if we hadn't arrived just now?" Akari promptly scolded her. Honestly, that girl was potentially even more irresponsible with her own safety than Taiki. And that's saying something.

"Then I'd probably have gotten killed," Crystal answered truthfully and without a hint of irony. "But you're all here now so let's just forget about that and focus on the situation that's at hand since there isn't much point it worrying about what might have happened to me in some other universe as long as I'm still standing here."

"Anyway, we can't really do much about Dark Knightmon as we are now," noted Shoutmon X4.

"Yeah, without Nene and Sparrowmon we can't make X5," Taiki was struggling to come up with something. Well, they did have Imperialdramon at the moment so that was something. He was pulled out of his reverie by an unfamiliar voice coming from Crystal's Xros Loader.

"Digi Xros me with Imperialdramon," Baihumon had regained consciousness after being partially healed while inside the girl's Xros Loader. "That should give us an edge."

"I don't think you've really had enough time to recover all your strength, but I guess we can't afford to hesitate right now so we'll give it a shot," Crystal held up her Xros Loader. **"Baihumon, Imperialdramon, Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!"** The white tiger combined with the white-armored dragon. Imperialdramon's armor became rearranged to fit the enormous tiger while the flapping of his huge white wings lifted him off the ground. **"Imperial Baihumon!"**

"Then I guess we'd better try a team attack," Taiki suggested.

"Way ahead of you," Shoutmon X4 boasted as he prepared to swing the Star Sword. **"Burning Star Crusher!"** He swung the blade to generate the familiar v-shaped destructive crimson shockwave.

**"Iron Prominence!" **Imperial Baihumon exhaled a powerful metallic blast so that it combined with the shockwave from Shoumont X4's sword attack.

**"Treason Vortex!" **Dark Knightmon spun his twin spear to produce a swirling vortex of darkness to counter the approaching attacks, only partly successful in neutralizing them both as a portion of the combined attacks still managed to break through, but it wasn't enough to cause any structural damage. All it did was push him back a little. It didn't take much for him to realize that his opponents might actually manage to give him some trouble if the fight were to continue. And his presence in the Time Zone had already been drawn out quite long enough by Crystal's earlier stalling tactics.

"Very well, I will withdraw for now," Dark Knightmon slipped through a portal into digital space. "I have little use for this Zone anyway..."

* * *

Imperial Baihumon split into his composite digimon as soon as Dark Knightmon was gone. Shoutmon X4 held his form a moment longer before also splitting back into his composite digimon with Shoutmon saying, "That was kind of anticlimactic, don't you think?"

"You shouldn't complain since it did turn out in our favor," noted Akari.

Crystal went down on one knee, visibly tired out by her ordeal. "Quite frankly, I'd have been more bothered if he hadn't been worn down by all the hell we gave him before you guys got here."

Black Fladramon was immediately at her side. "You should rest now. You've been pushing yourself way too hard today."

The humanoid, flame armored dragon scooped the human girl onto his back, supporting her by the legs as she hung her arms loosely around his neck. "Wait," Crystal continued to hold herself up with one hand on Black Fladramon's shoulder as she used her free hand to reach down into the pocket of her jeans. "I've still got to give this to Taiki." She pulled out the Time Zone's Code Crown, which Taiki caught reflexively once she tossed it over to him. Then she raised her arm back around Black Fladramon's neck so she could support herself more easily.

"But you worked so hard to retrieve this," Taiki was understandably shocked. "Shouldn't you be the one to keep it?"

"Hey now, you're the one who is going to save this world," Crystal responded with a yawn. "I'm just doing what I can to help."

"You guys can go ahead and do whatever else you think you've got to do," Black Fladramon spoke up. He tilted his head to indicate Imperialdramon. "We'll take her back to the Resort Zone to recuperate."

"Hey, don't count us out!" Zenjirou protested

"Yeah, we're coming too," added Taiki.

"It's not like she can really be considered sane enough to be left alone after that performance," noted Akari.

* * *

Several hours passed and Black Fladramon was still keeping watch outside the room where Crystal had been put to bed. So far as he could tell, she was still sleeping soundly. The rest of the team had already recovered inside of her Xros Loader and had dispersed throughout the Resort Zone to eat and play with the younger digimon. Only he had stayed behind.

"You're really concerned about her aren't you?" Taiki had slipped over to find out how things were going.

"The feeling is mutual," Black Fladramon answered automatically. "Of course, I wish she would be a little more concerned about herself. Humans are far more delicate than digimon, but she tends to disregard that fact whenever there's trouble." He paused to peer through the open doorway at the sleeping human girl. "But then, you appear to be the same in that regard."

"You know, Akari said almost the same thing," Taiki commented with a nervous laugh. "But she didn't go overboard like this when she was traveling with us so I had no idea. Well, there was that one time in the Haunted Zone."

"She doesn't want to be a burden," Black Fladramon explained softly. "So, when she's by herself and she gets into trouble, she behaves like she has to sort it all out herself and deserves whatever punishment she gets. But, of course, once me or any of the other digimon are at our limit, we can just recover in the Xros Loader, but since she's human she doesn't have that luxury so it eventually takes a toll on her unless she finds time between battles to rest it off. And, on the off chance that we become overwhelmed like we were today, well, you saw what can happen."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Crystal grumbled from the bed she had been sleeping in. She kicked off the covers and swung her legs over her side preparing to get up.

"You're only complaining because it's the truth," Black Fladramon retorted. "Anyway, aren't you supposed to be sleeping."

"I can't sleep when I'm starving," Crystal murmured. "I'm sure you can understand that."

"Then let me fetch you something to eat," Black Fladramon offered. Taiki couldn't help chuckling at the way Black Fladramon was smothering Crystal like a mother hen. It was a relationship dynamic he hadn't previously encountered with the digimon.

Crystal was already on her feet though. "Well, since I seem to be able to walk, I think I'd rather get it myself and let everyone else know I'm alright. Besides, you could use some rest yourself." She quickly brushed off the flame armored dragon in a manner no different from a defiant teenager brushing off the concerns of their parents. For all intents and purposes it seemed like Black Fladramon had taken on the role of her surrogate father while she had been living in the Digital World.

"It's alright, I'll keep an eye on her," Taiki volunteered.

"I don't know, she can be kind of handful sometimes," Black Fladramon responded while rubbing the back of his head.

"Then it's a good thing I'm still exhausted," Crystal interjected. "It'll keep me out of trouble."

That said, she staggered out of the room and into the corridor leading outside to where she could find the food vendors. It had been a brutally long day, but at least the night was shaping up to be a fairly peaceful one.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Note: First off, just to get it out of the way before it becomes a little too obvious-yes, I am a fangirl for Taiki and not just completely infatuated with the Digi Xros battle system introduced in Xros Wars. Alright, that's pretty much a blatant lie, except for the part about me being a fangirl. Clearly, I have a little too much fun with the battle system. Heck, a lot of the Digi Xros combinations that have been used in this fanfic were made up on the spot as I was writing out a given chapter in spite of the comprehensive chart of previously established Digi Xros variants I've been organizing on the side. And the simple truth is when I think of a possible combination, well, I can't _not_ use it so then I have to figure out some way to incorporate it into either the current chapter or conspire to work it in later on.

Secondly, don't expect too many of these rapid fire updates. Even if they were planned out well in advance, churning out two chapters in the same week is like a once in a blue moon affair so just take what you can get.


	18. Part 18

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 18 **_|

| The Chaos Generals and the Xros Dimensional Adventure | **Part 1 **|

**"Death Divider!"** Cyberdramon spun around the shaft of his Twin Lancer and struck down several approaching Skull Baluchimon with his tail. The army led by Spinomon in the Fossil Zone had only been stunned when Imperialdramon had come to retrieve Taiki and the others, but now they were being assaulted ruthlessly by the constituents of Blue Flare.

**"Heavy Tailhook!"** Deckerdramon spun in place striking down another section of the army of Skull Baluchimon.

**"Plasma Cannon!"** Mail Birdramon, meanwhile, shot Spinomon square in the chest with one of the ultra high energy plasma shells from his mouth. The blast sent the huge theropod digimon momentarily off balance. However, Spinomon was barely damaged by the attack and recovered quickly taking a swing at the armored avian digimon with one of his clawed forearms. Mail Birdramon quickly dodged around Spinomon's arm and flew on up over the dinosaur digimon's head to move out of range of those large claws. After all, with Kiriha hanging onto his back using the armored avian digimon for transport, Mail Birdramon took it upon himself to be extra careful about not getting hit even though his general didn't seem particularly concerned for his own safety when it came to these sort of battles.

Indeed, Spinomon's army of Skull Baluchimon hadn't put up much of a fight. Pretty soon Spinomon would be the only one left standing and then it would be just a matter of time before he too would be defeated by the power of Blue Flare.

**"Sonic Slash Rain!"** Spinomon shot off all the metal blades from his back to rain down on the surrounding digimon without giving any consideration to the fact that the majority of them were his allies. In the aftermath, it became readily apparent that only his own subordinates had fallen while Mail Birdramon, Cyberdramon, and Deckerdramon had managed to evade or shield themselves from the falling blades.

"You've just made my job here a whole lot easier," Kiriha noted with a smirk. "Blue Flare, focus all firepower on Spinomon!"

**"Erase Claw!"** Cyberdramon lifted one of his clawed hands away from his Twin Lancer to project a dark shockwave off of his claws directed at the huge theropod digimon.

**"Deckerdra-Launcher!"** Deckerdramon followed suited with a barrage of missiles.

**"Nighthawk!"** While Cyberdramon and Deckerdramon hit Spinomon from the ground, Mail Birdramon swooped in overhead and blasted the dinosaur digimon from above. Spinomon seemed dazed from the multiple impacts, but because of the sturdy armor provided by his thick scales, the theropod digimon was still standing.

"Again!" Kiriha ordered. "Don't stop until he's beaten into the ground!"

* * *

"Are you sure you're ready to start traveling again?" Zenjirou was openly concerned for Crystal's safety after, but that's to be expected since she's a girl. And, since she hadn't made any mention of a boyfriend, presumably single. And she had only had the one night to recover after pushing herself to the point of collapse the day before.

"Listen, I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm alright. And, since I've pretty much proven that I can't handle traveling by myself well enough to speed up the liberation of the Digital World, I'm not going to take off by myself again so it should be fine," Crystal was, for her part, maintaining the tough facade she had adopted since the night before.

"You know you don't have to push yourself so hard," Taiki reminded her.

"Sorry, guess I'm still compensating for that crippling sense of self doubt I don't want to think about," Crystal admitted with a slight chuckle. She had a hard time keeping a straight face when she put it like that.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Shoutmon was understandably confused.

"No," Crystal responded. "Not really. It's just, when I saw Dark Knightmon, I knew my team couldn't beat him. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the feeling I got from him was really unsettling."

"Maybe you were reacting to the power of darkness he carries with him," Nene suggested as she suddenly swooped down on Sparrowmon's back.

"Hey Nene," Akari waved in greeting. "Have you had any luck finding your brother?"

"Not yet," Nene was understandably disappointed by the fact, but she got over it quickly enough. "But, I saw you guys were down here so I decided to drop in."

"Well, we were just about to head back to the Fossil Zone since we didn't have a chance to make much progress there yesterday," Akari explained.

"Maybe I'll join you," Nene considered. "I don't think I've checked the Fossil Zone yet anyway."

* * *

**"Greymon, Mail Birdramon, Digi Xros!"** Kiriha had grown impatient with how long it was taking to finish off Spinomon and had finally opted to bring in his trump card.

**"Digi Xros! Metal Greymon!"** The cyborg dinosaur immediately plunged his armored arm into Spinomon's chest with enough force to rip through the theropod digimon's thick scales. **"Trident Arm!"**

Metal Greymon succeeded at tearing a hole in Spinomon's chest so that flecks of golden data became to rise from the mortally wounded theropod digimon until Spinomon's entire body finally faded away and Metal Greymon stood triumphant over where his opponent had been standing.

"Looks like somebody beat us to the punch," Zapmon emerged from Crystal's Xros Loader to perch on the girl's shoulder so she could peer at Metal Greymon's handiwork as soon as the members of Xros Heart arrived in the Fossil Zone.

"You're too late Taiki," Kiriha peered down at the goggle boy from where he stood on Metal Greymon's normal arm. "The Fossil Zone belongs to Blue Flare."

"I'm not here to fight with you Kiriha," Taiki had no intention of letting himself be baited by the blond.

"Besides, you might have beaten Spinomon's army in this Zone, but I don't see you with the Code Crown which means the Fossil Zone doesn't belong to you yet," Shoutmon retorted.

"It's the same difference," Kiriha responded. "I'm the one who beat Spinomon so it stands to reason that the Code Crown will recognize me. You're just wasting your time by being here."

"I'm going to wipe that smug look off your face," Shoutmon growled. "You just want us out of here so we won't stop you from wrecking the place to find the Code Crown." He summoned his retro microphone and prepared to take a swing at Metal Greymon, but Taiki held a restraining arm in front of him.

"Stop it Shoutmon," Taiki glanced at the agitated red dragon. "With Spinomon gone, there's no one else to get in Kiriha's way so he won't have any excuse to fight like that. Besides, there are a lot of other Zones out there that still need our help."

"Alright," Shoutmon conceded, reluctantly lowering his weapon.

Kiriha cast an amused glance over Taiki's impressive entourage of both humans and digimon. "It looks like you've become fairly popular, but I don't think acting so chummy is going to serve you too well in the battles to come." He leered at Taiki. "You might want to think about that."

"I'll take that under advisement," Taiki shrugged it off. He looked to the rest of the group that had assembled around him to see if they were ready to leave. He was a little surprised himself at just how much their numbers had increased in what felt like such a small amount of time.

Kiriha inclined his head to Metal Greymon. "Come on, let's go. We've still got a Code Crown to find."

"You mean this?" The inquiring voice belonged to Chaos Dukemon. The dark knight digimon held the golden pyramidal diamond in his outstretched hand. "I'm afraid I can't let you have it. This amusing little trinket is of great interest to myself and the rest of my companions." Chaos Dukemon's silver lance formed over his arm in an attack position. "You could try to take it from me, but I can assure you that you shall not succeed."

"Metal Greymon, Giga Destroyer!" Kiriha declared without hesitation.

**"Giga Destroyer!"** Metal Greymon obeyed and pelted Chaos Dukemon with a barrage of blue lasers. However, the barrage bounced harmlessly off of Chaos Dukemon's shield as the dark knight digimon brought it up to defend himself.

**"Judecca Prison!"** The triangular markings on Chaos Dukemon's shield lit up one at a time. Then, when all of them were illuminated, the individual points of shadowy light merged to form a powerful circular blast that struck Metal Greymon full in the chest causing him to degenerate into Greymon and Mail Birdramon. The two digimon, along with Kiriha, were scattered across the ground by the force of the blast.

Chaos Dukemon chuckled darkly. "As you can see, you children are no match for me. Give up now, while I'm still in a benevolent mood."

He turned to leave as a portal of darkness opened up behind him, but then he hesitated as recognition seemed to dawn on him.

"Except you," Chaos Dukemon spoke after a slight pause. His eyes were locked on Crystal. "You're younger than I remember, but I cannot forgive the number of times we have been defeated by the likes of you and your anomalous hybrid companions. This time, human, it will be your life that shall be extinguished and I have it on good authority that you humans aren't able to reconfigure yourselves. We, the Chaos Generals, shall finally be rid of the self-proclaimed Digidestined of Time and Space."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Crystal was officially freaking out. Some digimon she had never seen before now was accusing her of being his arch nemesis and, if she wasn't sorely mistaken, he had just threatened to kill her. "I've never seen you before in my life!"

"That's too bad," Chaos Piemon emerged from a second portal of darkness directly behind the human girl. He hefted her off the ground with one arm, shaking the small black dragon off the girl's shoulder while Crystal struggled to free herself from his grasp. "You might not remember us, but we definitely remember you and you've always been somewhat of a thorn in our collective sides. So, you see, whether you like it or not, you still have to die."

"Shoutmon, do something!" Taiki cried out in alarm. He had no idea what was going on, but it was clear to him that this whole misunderstanding could be potentially life threatening to one of his friends and he wasn't about to stand for it.

**"Rowdy Rocker!"** Shoutmon leapt at Chaos Piemon with his retro microphone in hand, ready to smack him across the mid-section to get him to drop Crystal, but before he could make contact he was knocked back by a completely invisible blast that easily knocked the wind out of him.

**"Clown Trick!"** Chaos Piemon chuckled darkly. Then, when the rest of the digimon prepared to step in on Shoutmon's behalf, the four swords strapped to his back slid out of their sheathes of their own accord to strike them down one by one. **"Trump Sword!"**

"As my associate has already informed you, you pitiful children are out of your league." He hefted Crystal roughly over his shoulder. "Just forget about this one. She's more trouble than she's worth."

Chaos Piemon slipped into his portal of darkness, taking Crystal with him. Meanwhile, Chaos Dukemon also disappeared through his own portal of darkness. The remaining humans and digimon were of no further interest to them. Both of the portals of darkness vanished swiftly behind them so that they could not readily be followed.

"No way," Zapmon went into a state of obvious panic. "No way. This can't happen. I promised to protect her." The small dragon beat her balled up fists against the ground. "Give Crystal back!"

It seemed that Gururumon and Lighdramon had also been left behind when Crystal had been taken. Both digimon were equally dismayed, with Gururumon howling remorsefully and Lighdramon bowing his head in shame. Neither of them had been able to stand against Chaos Piemon to rescue their general.

"Don't worry," Taiki tried to take charge of the situation. "We'll get her back." He stopped short when he realized from the way their adversaries had vacated the Fossil Zone that following them might not be as simple as just trasnferring to the next Zone and hoping to find their stronghold. It hadn't looked like those portals of darkness were connected to the familiar digital space that they were accustomed to traveling through. "We just have to figure out where they took her."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Kiriha grunted in frustration as he pulled himself up off the ground and dusted himself off, gathering Greymon and Mail Birdramon into his Xros Loader so they could recover from the abuse they had suffered at the hands of Chaos Dukemon. "Those guys definitely didn't seem like the usual digimon aligned with the Bagra Empire."

"They called themselves the Chaos Generals," Nene observed. "It's possible they represent their own faction."

"One thing is for sure," Shoutmon remarked as he started picking himself up. "Just the two of them are wicked strong. How many more of them do you think are out there?"

"There's five of them," a voice answered from the vicinity of Taiki's Xros Loader. The cartridge representing the Code Crown for the Time Zone suddenly popped out of the screen and floated off into the air at which point the shooting star symbol on the front began to shine with a bright silver light. "Now, if you don't mind, Digital Gate Open!"

The glowing shooting star symbol continued to shine in the air as it seemed to peel away from the cartridge to reveal a new symbol in the shape of an hourglass as it simply floated back into storage within Taiki's Xros Loader. The light intensified until it formed a gleaming pillar stretching down to the ground and far off into the sky. And a girl, almost identical to Crystal, but perhaps several years older, stepped through.

She was dressed in blue jeans and a silver tanktop, with a katana strapped at her waist with a hilt in the shape of a blue, serpentine dragon clutching a purple jewel in its mouth. And she wore the same winged dragon pendant around her neck on a stainless steel chain as her counterpart. However, unlike her counterpart, there was also a second necklace sporting a tag and crest. The crest bore the same shooting star symbol that had previously marked the Code Crown for the Time Zone. For some reason she also wasn't wearing any shoes. And, upon closer examination, the girl's fingernails were sharpened to a point so that they had the appearance of claws and her canines were slightly elongated so that they had the appearance of small fangs.

"I can tell you right now that the Chaos Generals are a royal pain in the ass," remarked a small black dragon standing at her side. She looked rather identical to Zapmon, but she was also slightly larger than her counterpart. "But that doesn't mean they can't be beaten. I should know. I've trounced them lots of times."

"Yeah, but we could still use some help," noted the girl who looked virtually identical to Crystal. Clutched in her right hand was a device rather unlike a Xros Loader. It was actually a digivice with the same basic design as a white and silver D3, but there was a slit on the righthand side that acted as a card reader and a barcode scanner at the top opposite the antenna. Another addition was a motion sensor built into the lefthand side.

"But, before that," she looked around at the bewildered collective of humans and digimon who were staring at her in astonishment. "We should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Crystal Mizuka, the self-appointed Digidestined of Time and Space." She paused as she waved her hand to indicate the small dragon standing at her side. "This is my digimon partner, Zapmon. And, from the looks on all your faces, I'm guessing you all must have a lot of questions for me."

"Hang on, didn't you just get captured!" Shoutmon blurted out.

"Yes and no," the girl who called herself the Digidestined of Time and Space explained. "The me from your dimension has been captured by evil digimon that originated from a different dimension than this digital world. Specifically, they came from a digital world more closely connected to the human world that I came from. So yeah, the me from your dimension is still in trouble and I'm here to help you guys save her. Anything else you guys might like to know before we get started?"

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: Between bad weather and a lot of drama that's been happening in my life lately, I haven't been able to find the time and motivation to work on this chapter until now, but I'm really excited about where this is all going. Anyway, this is the start of another of my planned story arcs that's bound to get pretty crazy what with the whole introduction of an AU version of Crystal to complicate matters. Good luck figuring out just what kind of alternate universe she came from. All you really need to know is that she's adept at dimension hopping and suffers from a chronic case of trouble magnetism. And she will be returning to her own continuity once this story arc is over. No, this is not a crossover with another story. This is just a crazy cameo.


	19. Part 19

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 19**_ |

| The Chaos Generals and the Xros Dimensional Adventure | **Part 2 **|

The girl who had introduced herself as the Digidestined of Time and Space removed a gadget from one of her pockets, flipping back the cover to reveal the screen and arrangement of buttons of her D-Terminal. It only took a few seconds for her to compose a suitable message calling for backup before she hit send. She frowned when it didn't go through.

"Must be out of range," she grumbled to herself.

"What were you trying to accomplish with that thing anyway?" asked Shoutmon.

"E-mail," the other Crystal responded automatically. "I was hoping to get in touch with the rest of my team before going up against the Chaos Generals, but it looks like the signal is being blocked. Anyway, that's enough wasting time. I know they'll be upset about missing out on the fight, but where we come from there are bound to be others in the future."

She put away her D-Terminal and instinctively approached the position where Chaos Piemon's portal of darkness had previously resided. "This is definitely it," she nodded to herself and held up her digivice. "There's no mistaking their darkness signature." The screen on the front of her digivice began to glow silver. "Darkness Gate Open!"

The portal re-formed slowly, almost as if it was stubbornly refusing to cooperate of its own volition. However, within the next few minutes it had grown large enough for everyone to make it through. Once it had been successfully opened, the other Crystal fell to one knee breathing heavily and the other Zapmon quickly rushed to her side.

"Those lousy jerks must have figured out that humans react badly to the world of darkness," the small dragon shook a balled up fist at the portal.

"It's okay," the human girl shook it off. "After the number of times we've beaten them, they must think they change the odds by giving us a handicap."

"So, are we all going then?" Taiki turned to his own team before finally turning to Kiriha.

Kiriha shrugged. "I'm only going to take back that Code Crown that rightfully belongs to me. What happens to your friend is of no concern to me so don't expect me to help you save her. Besides, I doubt she really needs to be rescued."

"Kiriha..." Taiki started to protest, but the other Crystal immediately cut him off.

"He's probably right," she informed him. "If she's anything like me, then she'll be a terrible hostage."

* * *

Meanwhile, Crystal was still struggling in Chaos Piemon's grasp after being dragged into an area where the floor, walls and ceiling were comprised of a continuous grid of illuminated green lines against a black background. Because it all looked the same in all directions, it was more or less impossible to determine the actual size of the area. However, she had already been carried past the ominous shapes of Chaos Greymon, Chaos Seadramon, and Chaosdramon and, judging from the size of them, she could safely guess that the surrounding area must have been fairly large.

"Enough is enough!" Black Fladramon's voice declared as the flame armored dragon materialized from Crystal's Xros Loader so that he formed behind Chaos Piemon. His body became surrounded with an aura of flames as he rammed violently into the offending digimon. **"Fire Rocket!"**

The impact caused Chaos Piemon to stagger and lose his hold on the human girl who landed sprawled on the ground. She recovered quickly and held up her Xros Loader without bothering to pick herself up. **"All Fan Beemonz Digi Xros!"**

**"Digi Xros!" **The twenty-seven Fan Beemonz came together to become a single Tiger Vespamon. **"Tiger Vespamon!"**

The newly Digi Xrossed digimon quickly positioned itself between Crystal and Chaos Piemon. Black Fladramon swiftly somersaulted over the enemy digimon to stand beside Tiger Vespamon, giving Crystal a chance to get up on her feet before the two digimon engaged their opponent in battle.

* * *

"What kind of place is this?" Zenjirou was already becoming disquieted by the strange environment they had emerged into by passing through the portal of darkness.

"It kind of looks like the flat, highly geometric environments that were used in old video games," noted Akari. The others stopped and stared at her, with the exception of the other Crystal who was more focused on where they were going.

It didn't take long for them to spot Chaos Greymon, Chaos Seadramon, and Chaosdramon blocking the way ahead. The three mechanized dragon digimon stood out against the highly repetitive landscape.

"Alright, we'll distract them while the rest of you figure out a battle plan," the other Crystal announced suddenly.

"Wait, what?" Zapmon watched with considerable disbelief as the girl who was virtually a mirror image of her own human took off running toward the imposing figures of Chaos Greymon, Chaos Seadramon, and Chaosdramon. "You've got to be kidding."

She was even more shocked to see that her own counterpart, the other Zapmon, had obediently run ahead with the girl. Then the other Crystal held out her digivice and did something even more unexpected.

**"Digimental Up!"** the other Crystal declared as a white, oblong object almost resembling an egg with a silver symbol on top shaped like a shooting star with a metal spike protruding from it to form the tail emerged from her digivice. It broke apart like a jigsaw puzzle and reassembled itself around the small dragon digimon running along ahead of her.

**"Zapmon Armor Shinka!"** the other Zapmon rapidly increased in size to fill in the gaps in the white armor that had formed around her, becoming a wolf-like draconic quadruped in the process. Her scales became concealed under a layer of fine fur where they were still visible between the gaps in her armor. Her golden wings were also slightly larger, extending from the shoulder joints of her forelegs, although they were still only aesthetic and not really useable for flying. Most of her body was encased by the white armor formed from the Digimental, including a helmet over her face with slits for the eyes and a silver and gold lightning-bolt spike protruding from the snout. **"Lightningmon, Transcending Time and Space!"**

As soon as the evolution process was complete, the other Crystal jumped up onto her partner's back and larger head-on at the three enemy digimon still looming in the distance.

"How come I can't do that?" Zapmon pouted.

"Perhaps you simply haven't met the necessary requirements to reach that stage in your life cycle yet," noted Gururumon.

Lighdramon nodded. "You act tough, but you're still just a kid."

"Anyway, it didn't sound like they are going to be able to hold them off by themselves so we'd better hurry up and figure out how we can lend a hand," noted Taiki. _I get the feeling these enemy digimon are really dangerous._

"Hmph," Kiriha stepped away from the crowd. "While you're busy thinking about it, I intend to just go out there and overpower them with brute force."

* * *

"Hey you big muscle heads! You want me, come and get me!" The other Crystal wasted no time drawing the attention of Chaos Greymon, Chaos Seadramon, and Chaosdramon to her.

"The prisoner is escaping!" Chaos Seadramon hissed.

"Then we have our orders," Chaos Greymon snorted. "If we can't recapture her, then we have permission to destroy her."

"Then why are we still discussing this? We should be annihilating her so that there won't be any pieces left!" Chaosdramon declared viciously. **"Hyper Mugen Cannon!"**

Chaosdramon had already fully charged his twin cannons and fired the enormous energy waves at his approaching adversary.

**"Gaia Force!"** Chaos Greymon quickly followed suit, gathering flaming energy between his hands and hurtling it at the other Crystal and Lightningmon.

**"Ultimate Stream!"** Chaos Seadramon contributed a massive energy beam from the cannon built into his nose to the joint attack, pleased to see that the pitiful human and her digimon were making no discernable effort to get out of the way.

Of course, all three of them had completely overlooked the fact that the girl racing toward them wasn't the same girl that had been captured by Chaos Dukemon and Chaos Piemon, even though they looked pretty much identical. As such, they had no idea that the actual prisoner was presently locked in battle with Chaos Piemon while the three of them were being distracted by an imposter. Except for the fact that the other Crystal was really the one they had been after all along.

"These guys never learn," the girl sighed and shook her head. "Oh well, I guess it's time for us to give them another demonstration of why they can never catch us."

"You've got that right," Lightningmon voiced her agreement. In the blink of an eye they both disappeared from the battlefield completely so that the blasts from Chaosdramon, Chaos Greymon, and Chaos Seadramon missed them completely and simply impacted harmlessly with the ground. In the next instant Lightningmon could be seen dashing across the serpentine metallic body of Chaos Seadramon as if nothing had happened.

"Over here you morons!" Lightningmon taunted her three opponents.

Chaos Seadramon began flailing around in the midair trying to knock off the smaller digimon, but Lightningmon managed to regain her footing despite all of the thrashing movement. Chaosdramon began charging up his cannons again, preparing to open fire on his ally if it meant obliterating his adversary.

"Hold still," Chaosdramon instructed the serpentine digimon. "I'll gladly put you out of your misery."

"Wait," Chaos Greymon flew between them. "You'll hit Chaos Seadramon if you do that."

"And why should that bother me?" Chaosdramon ignored him.

"Fine, if I don't get to them first, you can have it your way," Chaos Greymon conceded. He flew off to pursue the other Crystal and Lightningmon as the latter continued leaping between the coils of Chaos Seadramon's enormous body to maintain her footing while the larger digimon kept trying to dislodge her.

**"Giga Destroyer!"** Metal Greymon descended upon them without warning, raining down an indiscriminate barrage of blue laser blasts that struck Chaos Seadramon, Chaos Greymon, and very nearly struck the other Crystal and Lightningmon in the process. The latter two quickly disappeared from their position and then reappeared so that they were instead charging at Chaosdramon from behind.

**"Lightning Beam!"** Lightningmon unleashed a continuous blast of electricity over Chaosdramon's body, but after that brief instant the outcome was obvious. The electricity crackled for several long seconds and quickly fizzled out without having any effect on the mechanical dragon. Chaosdramon simply twisted around and smacked them down with his huge, metal clawed arm so that they skidded across the ground. Lightningmon's armor broke apart, reassembling into the Digimental as it was restored to the other Crystal's digivice as her partner shrunk back into Zapmon.

"I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that it didn't work," the small dragon coughed up some dust and staggered back onto her feet taking on a defensive stance. "That form might be able to outrun them, but it doesn't pack enough of a punch."

The other Crystal nodded as she pushed herself up off the ground. "That was just supposed to be a diversion anyway." She peered up at Kiriha circling around on Metal Greymon with unconcealed contempt. "Anyway, since that guy is already going on the offensive, we might as well start being serious about this."

"I couldn't agree more," her partner confirmed without hesitation.

"Then let's show them some of our real power," the other Crystal held out her digivice. The screen shined silver and so did the crest contained within the tag worn around her neck.

**"Zapmon Warp Shinka!"** The girl's partner transformed from a small dragon that had barely come up to her knees into a dragon roughly fifteen feet tall, with a respectable wingspan to go along with it. In another flash, a metallic cannon formed along the back of her right arm with cables extending from the barrel connected to the base of her neck. The upper righthand portion of her face was also covered by half of a metallic mask. There was another flash and suddeny the cannon had been replaced by a large metal cuff connected by heavy chains to the hilt of a large katana clenched her right hand with the word "time" etched into both sides of the blade in digital code. A steel gauntlet formed around her left arm with a massive circular extension embedded with a large mirror attached to the outside of her forearm. And a powerful cannon became mounted to the tip of her whiplike tail. **"Neo Zapdramon!"**

Neo Zapdramon grinned fiercely at Chaosdramon. "Now, where were we?"

* * *

Zapmon started to sulk even harder after witnessing the second mode of evolution employed by her counterpart from another dimension, but by that point no one was really paying any attention to her. There were other, more important, matters to deal with at the moment. Akari and Zenjirou had already been situated on Gururumon and Lighdramon respectively, with Akari hanging onto Cutemon and Zenjirou with the red Pickmon sticking up from his hair.

"I'll be counting on you guys to them keep out of the line of fire," Taiki told the two beast digimon.

"You can count on us," Gururumon assured him. The large wolf snatched Zapmon up by her wings with his mouth.

"Just make sure you bring our general back in one piece," added Lighdramon.

Taiki turned to Nene who simply nodded to confirm that she was ready to make X5.

**"Shoutmon, Ballistamon, Dorulumon, Starmonz!"** Taiki dialed in his digimon on his Xros Loader.

**"Sparrowmon!"** Nene did so as well.

**"Digi Xros!"** They finished together.

**"Digi Xros!"** The component digimon came together to form Shoutmon X5. **"Shoutmon X5!"**

Taiki and Nene positioned themselves on Shoutmon X5's shoulders as the newly Digi Xrossed digimon took to the sky, bracing themselves as they flew toward the battle at hand.

* * *

**"Trump Sword!"** Chaos Piemon unsheathed a pair of swords from his back, flinging them at Tiger Vespamon and Black Fladramon before drawing a second pair and doing so a second time. Aside from the four actual swords he had thrown at the two digimon, numerous illusory swords filled in the space between them making the illusory swords virtually indestinguishable from the real ones.

**"Mach Stinger V!"** Tiger Vespamon moved to intercept Chaos Piemon's swords with its own, becoming slightly disoriented when intercepting empty air, but nevertheless continued swatting at each of the swords in turn while Black Fladramon readied himself to launch another attack at Chaos Piemon.

**"Knuckle Fire!"** Black Fladramon's flame patterned gauntlets lit up with crimson flames as he began launching a barrage of fireballs at Chaos Piemon. Unfortunately, the evil clown simply shrugged them off.

**"Clown Trick!"** Chaos Piemon formed an invisible blast between his hands and flung it at the flame armored dragon digimon.

Black Fladramon took the blow full in the chest and toppled to the ground, groaning in pain before being drawn back into Crystal's silver Xros Loader to recover. However, at the same time that Black Fladramon was pulled back in for recovery, Raptordramon emerged with his sights set on Chaos Piemon.

**"Crash Charge!"** The black armored dinosaur charged into Chaos Piemon with the sharp metal blades of his armor, cutting into the evil clown's torso causing Chaos Piemon to let out an agonized cry. **"Ambush Crunch!"** Raptordramon then leapt onto the wounded digimon's chest, pinning Chaos Piemon under his weight, and bit fiercely into the evil clown's exposed throat, causing Chaos Piemon to finally explode into a harmless cloud of data.

"One down," Raptordramon declared with a slight snarl. "That leaves four."

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: So, the new season of Digimon Xros Wars begins next month in Japan. Should be interesting to see where they decide to go with it after the insanely awesome finale they pulled for the previous story arc. I'm not sure how they plan to top it, but I'll still be watching to find out when they do. And, of course, I'll probably still be writing fanfiction. Can you believe this story hasn't even gotten past the "first season" of Xros Wars yet? Bad weather and other distractions aside, I do enjoy having time to actually work on this.


	20. Part 20

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 20 **_|

| The Chaos Generals and the Xros Dimensional Adventure | **Part 3 **|

Chaos Greymon emerged from the smoke cloud formed by the multiple impacts of Metal Greymon's Giga Destroyer virtually unscathed. The dragon man whirled around in midair and was honestly intrigued when he discovered the identity of his and Chaos Seadramon's diminutive assailant. Really, just a Metal Greymon? This one certainly had a different look to it than any of the other variations Chaos Greymon had seen on Metal Greymon, but all the parts were there and readily recognizeable. Chaos Greymon chuckled to himself as he spun back around to face Chaos Seadramon.

"Go help Chaosdramon take care of the girl," he informed the enormous mechanized sea serpent. "This one is mine."

Chaos Seadramon nodded his huge head, hissing a silent confirmation before moving off to confront the other Crystal and her newly evolved partner. Chaos Greymon shifted his attention back to Kiriha and his Metal Greymon.

"Let's see which of us is stronger," Chaos Greymon declared as he held his arms with their Dramon Killer gauntlets over his head, pressing them together to become more aerodynamic. Then he began to spin rapidly in place while gathering flaming energy around his body to form an energetic tornado of raw destructive power. **"Great Tornado!"** Chaos Greymon moved with the spinning current around his body and rushed toward Metal Greymon.

**"Trident Arm!"** Metal Greymon shielded himself by countering Chaos Greymon with his own metal arm. However, the clash only served to form numerous fracture lines in the metal before Metal Greymon was flung back haphazardly several meters away, struggling to remain upstair so as to prevent Kiriha from being thrown off. There was no longer any doubt that their adversary was a powerful enemy indeed.

* * *

Chaos Seadramon had started to lock on to Neo Zapdramon with his nose cannon when he was suddenly struck in his metal chin by an uppercut from Shoutmon X5.

"I don't think so," Shoutmon X5 defiantly informed the large, mechanized sea serpent. "You're fighting me!"

Chaos Seadramon righted himself and peered down at his assailant. "It is no matter," the serpent hissed. "You shall all perish soon enough."

Then, in a swift, fluid motion, Chaos Seadramon swung around the length of his huge serpentine body so that his flexible metal tail became wrapped tightly around Shoutmon X5, nearly crushing him with the constrictive force. **"Hell Squeeze!"**

Shoutmon X5 cried out from the pain as fractures began to form along his body from the pressure being exerted on him by Chaos Seadramon. Chaos Seadramon seemed to take lavish pleasure in making his opponent suffer, practically crooning with delight. "It's best not to struggle. The pain will go away just as soon as you are reduced to your constituent zeroes and ones. Of course, it will be no fun for me at all if you go ahead and die too quickly."

"As if I would die from something like this!" Shoutmon X5 declared as the drills on his thighs began to rotate, accelerating so that they pierced through the metallic flesh of Chaos Seadramon's tail, also puncturing several of the connecting cables in the process causing Chaos Seadramon's coils to loosen enough for Shoutmon X5 to bring up the large drill at the tip of his tail to finish the job by drilling clear through Chaos Seadramon's tail, severing it completely. Shoutmon X5 freed himself from the loose metal coils and tossed the severed tail aside as it finally dissolved into a golden cloud of data.

"I see that you are not without some skill and ingenuity," Chaos Seadramon conceded as he swallowed his pain. Even without his tail he was still a formidable digimon. He would simply have to decide on a different way to finish off his opponent.

* * *

**"Hyper Mugen Cannon!"** Chaosdramon fired the power he had charged into his two cannons down upon Neo Zapdramon.

**"Shield-Arm Reflection!"** Neo Zapdramon shielded herself with the mirrored gauntlet on her left arm, absorbing the blasts from Chaosdramon's cannons into the large mirror and redirecting the destructive energy back at him. Chaosdramon's metal body became cracked and scorched by the reverse impact, but the huge mechanized dragon seemed entirely unfazed by the injuries he had sustained by having his own attack bounced back at him. A large crack had also formed in the large mirror attached to the gauntlet on Neo Zapdramon's left arm. It was unlikely that she would be able to redirect another fully charged blast from Chaosdramon's two cannons.

"In that case, I'd better not give him the opportunity to recharge them!" Neo Zapdramon declared as she gripped the hilt of the huge katana that was chained to her right wrist with both hands. **"Epoch Blade!"** The dragon warrior started systematically striking Chaosdramon with her weapon, strategically aiming for the patches of exposed flesh that had been revealed through the cracks in his mechanized body. However, the assault barely seemed to faze her opponent.

Chaosdramon brought up his right arm and spread out the three-pronged metal pincers to open up the concealed missile port and then fired one of his organic missiles directly at Neo Zapdramon. **"Destroyed Hook!"** The missile quickly hit its mark causing Neo Zapdramon to cry out in agony as a virus was injected into her body to melt away her data. As a consequence, she was forced to degenerate down a stage to cast off the virus by becoming Sparkmon.

"You've become more resilient," Chaosdramon remarked in what might have constituted a complimentary tone. "In the past you would have been forced to degenerate all the way back to your child form."

"And _you_ shouldn't have done that," Sparkmon informed him as she directed the cannon mounted onto the back of her right arm at each of Chaosdramon's two cannon in turn. **"Dragon Cannon!"** She fired off concentrated silver beam into both of the cannon barrels, causing them to explode from the inside. It didn't necessarily back as much of a punch as Chaosdramon's two cannons, but it was easier to aim and it didn't have a cool down period to be concerned about.

* * *

"We should get out of here before we run into anymore of them," Crystal looked between Raptordramon and Tiger Vespamon. The rest of her digimon, except for Zapmon, Gururumon and Lighdramon, were all present and accounted for inside of her Xros Loader, but it still put severe limitations on her team's overall fighting ability. Sure, Raptordramon had managed to take down Chaos Piemon, but that was only because he got lucky and caught the evil clown off guard. Moreover, Crystal had seen for herself that the remaining Chaos Generals were primary made of metal which meant they wouldn't have the same vulnerability as more organic digimon.

"You won't be going anywhere," Chaos Dukemon dropped down from a platform somewhere up above, easily camouflaged by the repetitive nature of the surrounding environment. **"Demon's Disaster!"** The evil knight rushed forward and swiftly plunged his lance into Tiger Vespamon's chest forcing the Digi Xros to break apart into its dazed constituents. Once they were down he swung his lance at Raptordramon to produce a shockwave of demonic electricity that sent the armored dinosaur sprawling across the ground until he lost consciousness.

Crystal gathered her fallen digimon back into her Xros Loader. She was mentally debating which combination of digimon she still had on her with enough energy might be strong enough to stand against Chaos Dukemon. She felt like she was rapidly running out of options.

"You will find that I am much stronger than my associate," Chaos Dukemon informed her. He dismissed the lance encased around his right arm to reveal his hand clutching the piece of the Code Crown he had stolen from the Fossil Zone. "Especially now that I have this curious little trinket. Somehow, this makes me feel even more powerful."

That was when Slashmon materialized himself from Crystal's Xros Loader. The red raptor-like digimon put himself between the human girl and Chaos Dukemon.

"In that case, I will be your opponent," Slashmon informed him. He turned to Crystal. "We know for a fact that there are still three others like this one out there so we shouldn't waste the energy of our teammates dealing with this one. Just promise me that no matter what happens during this fight that you won't interfere."

"But you can't fight him by yourself," Crystal quickly protested.

"My strength will be more than adequate," Slashmon responded. "You're just going to have to trust me on that. After all, I was the strongest digimon in the Resort Zone before you arrived. I will never have the same potential as Zapmon, but there is still something that only I can do."

Crystal nodded reluctantly. "Alright Slashmon. I believe in you. Just be careful."

"Interesting," Chaos Dukemon seemed amused from watching the exchange. He turned his lance on Slashmon. "I wonder how a feeble little digimon such as yourself can perceive himself as a challenge for a Chaos General."

"Fight me and you will see," Slashmon retorted. He raised his clawed hands in a fighting stance.

"As you wish!" Chaos Dukemon quickly came at him with his lance, having re-formed it around his arm.

**"Battle Claw!"** Slashmon's claws began to shine as he struck down Chaos Dukemon's lance and launched himself into the air over the larger digimon's head. **"Spit Fire!"** He then followed by exhaling a barrage of golden fireballs at the top of Chaos Dukemon's head from above and on down the back of his cape, setting it ablaze, as he gradually descended down to the ground and landed gracefully behind him.

"This feeble digimon is not without experience," Slashmon calmly informed Chaos Dukemon as the other digimon cast off his still burning cape.

"So it would seem," Chaos Dukemon acknowledged as he turned to face the smaller digimon. "But if that is the full extent of your power, then you have no chance of harming me." He began to charge power into his shield so that each of the triangular markings along the outer rim lit up one at a time until they were all illuminated. "Whereas you are unlikely to survive this," he continued once his shield was fully charged. **"Judecca Prison!"** Chaos Dukemon fired off the immensely powerful blast from his shield so that it completely engulfed his opponent.

* * *

**"Metal Greymon, Deckerdramon, Digi Xros!"** Kiriha had seen for himself just how powerful Chaos Greymon was compared to his own Metal Greymon and decided that the best way to confront him would be to drastically increase his own firepower.

**"Digi Xros!"** The two digimon readily came together. **"Decker Greymon!"**

"Most impressive," Chaos Greymon was finding this Digi Xros ability to be a subject of great interest. "But let's see what it can do." He held is arms out wide as flaming energy was gathered between them. **"Gaia Force!"** And then he threw it down upon Decker Greymon.

Decker Greymon raised his arm cannon firing out a massive ball of plasma to intercept Chaos Greymon's Gaia Force. **"Plasma Deckerdra-Launcher!"**

The two enormously powerful attacks collided in midair, exploding on contact to produce a massive shockwave and a cloud of heavy, electrically charged smoke. But Decker Greymon didn't stop there. Suddenly all of the armaments on his back, wings, and tail became illuminated with destructive energy. **"Mail Birdra-Launcher!" **He bombarded the smokescreen with a dense barrage of blue colored laser blasts on the assumption that some of them would make contact with Chaos Greymon on the other side.

Chaos Greymon was unfortunate enough to find himself in the worst possible position where he received almost the full brunt of the bombardment to his entire body. One of his Dramon Killer gauntlets broke off from his arm and plummeted harmlessly to the ground and evaporated into a cloud of data while the dragon man struggled to recover well enough to make a counter attack. But Kiriha wasn't going to stand for that.

"You got him," Kiriha seemed exceptionally pleased with himself. "Now fire again! And this time hit him with everything we've got!"

This time when Decker Greymon prepared to fire, all of the armaments along his back, wings, and tail became illuminated along with the barrel of his arm cannon as he assaulted Chaos Greymon with a simultaneous bombardment from all of his weapons at once. **"Tera Destroyer!"**

Chaos Greymon's eyes went wide as he was struck by the sheer multitude of plasma and laser blasts that ripped through his body until he finally dissolved into a cloud of data. He had no complaints. It had been a good battle.

* * *

**"Ultimate Stream!"** Chaos Seadramon fired a massive blast of energy from his nose cannon.

**"Impact Laser!"** Shoutmon X5 countered by firing the spiraling green blast from his own cannon. The two blasts collided and began pushing against each other at the collision point as both digimon steadily charged additional energy into their own side of the blast in an effort to overpower the other. It seemed that Chaos Seadramon certainly had the upperhand when it came to raw destructive power, but he did suffer from one rather notable disadvantage by having only one primary weapon to take advantage of it with. **"Three Victorize!"** Shoutmon X5 continued to deflect the blast from Chaos Seadramon's nose cannon with the energy stream from his own Impact Laser while simultaneously shooting out a crimson v-shaped blast from the V on his chest underneath the clashing beams to strike Chaos Seadramon in the lower jaw so that the huge sea serpents whole head was pushed back by the impact. This caused his Ultimate Stream to become accidentally redirected at a harmless angle into the sky as Shoutmon X5's impact laser finally made contact with the serpents actual body. And, while Chaos Seadramon was briefly stunned and disoriented, Shoutmon X5 came at him with sword in hand. **"Burning Star Crusher!" **Shoutmon X5 made a vertical slice with his sword to cut Chaos Seadramon cleanly in half leaving the two surprised halves to gradually dissolve into a cloud of golden data suspended in the air.

* * *

**"Thunder Storm!"** Sparkmon declared as dark clouds suddenly formed over Chaosdramon. Silver lightning bolts quickly rain down onto the entire surface of the mechanical dragon's body. Unfortunately, it didn't really seem to accomplish much other than causing the patches of flesh exposed by the cracks in his metal body to smolder from the intense energy and heat.

"Truly we could carry on like this forever," Chaosdramon chuckled in spite of the electricity crackling around him. "However, I have already grown weary of this repetitive little game. Yes, I think I'm done playing with you."

The electricity that had been crackling over his body suddenly dispersed as Chaosdramon started to increase in size. His head elongated into a more angular shape with a demonic horn curving out from either side. The metal armor that encased his body rapidly repaired itself as he nearly doubled in size.

"Well damn," Sparkmon frowned looking to the other Crystal for help. "He transformed into Chaos Lord already. I was sure we'd have a little more time before it came this."

"Not much we can do about it except to keep on fighting," the other Crystal responded. She reached around and dug out a handful of Digimon cards from her back pocket. She rifled through them until she found the ones she was looking for and put the rest back in her pocket. "This should make you take hits a little better." She swiped the first card through the slit in the side of her digivice. _**"Card Slash! Digimental of Miracles!"**_ The black scales covering Sparkmon's body turned golden and metallic. "And these should help to boost your firepower." She swiped the next two cards through in rapid succession. _**"Card Slash! Paildramon's Desperado Blaster! Card Slash! Imperialdramon's Positron Laser!"**_ Paildramon's flexible twin cannons materialized mounted around Sparkmon's waist while Imperialdramon Fighter Mode's cannon became mounted onto the back of her left arm.

"Oh yeah, I love the way you think!" Sparkmon began cackling maniacally as she took aim at Chaos Lord with all of her newly equipped weaponry along with her own Dragon Cannon. "EAT LASERS YOU BIG METAL CAN OPENER!" she exclaimed as she bombarded Chaos Lord with a combination of silver, blue and purple laser beams from each of her weapons.

Unfortunately, it didn't put a scratch on him. Chaos Lord simply shrugged it off and then took aim at Sparkmon with his own massive cannons. **"Chaos Cannon!"** The enormous mechanized dragon fired three times in rapid succession, effectively pulverizing Sparkmon with each successive blast until finally allowing her to succumb to the pain as she collapsed onto the ground almost a kilometer away. The modifications that the other Crystal had made to her partner with her Digimon cards were quick to fade as Sparkmon shrunk back into a barely conscious Zapmon.

"If I'm not mistaken I did say I was done playing with you," Chaos Lord noted darkly. "And this time you don't have those two volatile little hybrids to back you up."

"That's because she brought something better! **Meteor Buster Attack!"** Shoutmon X5 came down from high in the air, taking on the destructive force of a meteorite as he slammed into Chaos Lord from above. The force of the impact produced a large dark crater surrounding Chaos Lord, as if the illuminated green criss-crosses that formed the grid had been disrupted by the sudden collapse of the ground.

**"Tera Destroyer!"** Decker Greymon immediately followed by bombarding Chaos Lord with everything he had. Several stray laser beams nearly collided with Shoutmon X5, but he was quick enough to move out of the way.

"Don't tell me this guy has actually been giving you a hard time," Kiriha called down mockingly.

"That's easy for you to say with your little army of digimon. Where I come from most people only ever have one!" The other Crystal called back. "Anyway, it looks like you guys have this one under control so I'm going to go check up on Zapmon."

* * *

"Slashmon!" Crystal cried out as the red raptor-like digimon was consumed by Chaos Dukemon's attack. She was frightened that he might have already been killed by the blast.

"Remember what I told you," Slashmon stated as the destructive energy radiating around him suddenly dispersed. At first glance it seemed like bits of his body were breaking away as he was beginning to be deconstructed into a shapeless cloud of data, but then it became apparent that his body wasn't so much breaking down as it was rapidly filling out. "My strength will be more than adequate!" He clenched his eyes shut as he transformed from being a roughly four and a half foot tall dromaeosaur to standing nearly seventeen feet in height with a length of perhaps twenty-five feet from snout to tail. Each of his limbs grew larger and more thickly muscled accordingly. **"Slashmon Shinka! Slashdramon!"** His voiced boomed as he stood strongly in his new form.

"You've evolved," Chaos Dukemon stared him down. "But you should be dead."

"Under regular circumstances I would have been," Slashdramon retorted. "However, being struck down by your attack has fulfilled the only condition that was remaining for me to reach the next stage in my life cycle. I had to lose one final battle in order to evolve. And now," he added. "It is you who doesn't stand a chance. **Desert Inferno!"** Slashdramon exhaled a steady stream of granulated golden fire with the consistency of a localized sandstorm onto Chaos Dukemon's shield, riddling it with numerous puncture marks until it finally shattered.

**"Demon's Disaster!" **Chaos Dukemon quickly attempted to lash out at Slashdramon with his lance.

**"Razor Slash!" **Slashdramon brought up one of his clawed hands to intercept the blade as his claws began to shine. His claws pierced through the metal and broke off the tip of the blade, casting it aside as he beat Chaos Dukemon back with his strong tail. Then the claws of his other hand began to shine right before he swooped down and plunged them straight through the armor covering Chaos Dukemon's chest.

Chaos Dukemon coughed as his body began to give out on him. "You were... a worthy adversary."

And then he dissolved into a harmless cloud of data, leaving the piece of the Code Crown he had stolen suspended in the air above where he had fallen. Crystal was still in awe of Slashdramon.

"Now, if I'm not mistaken, you wanted to get out of here," Slashdramon tilted his head to her inquisitively. Then he glanced at the piece of the Code Crown still floating in the air. "You might want to grab that if you want to give it to Taiki."

Crystal nodded dumbly and went to grab it. "You know, I don't think Kiriha is going to be too happy about this."

"That's his problem," Slashdramon snorted. "Come on," he knelt down so Crystal would be able to climb onto his back. "I'll give you a lift."

Crystal managed to climb up so that she was balanced on top of Slashdramon's head, hanging onto the smooth metal of his large horns for support. "Alright, lead the way."

Slashdramon started back the way they had seen the rest of the Chaos Generals. With any luck, their friends in Xros Heart had already arrived to help out with that particular problem.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Note: I would just like to clarify that Slashmon's evolution into Slashdramon isn't a spontaneous evolution borrowing power from his future self. In this case it was actually just his time to evolve and he won't be changing back again. From now on he will be Slashdramon for life until he fulfills the conditions for his next life cycle transition which, if it evers happens, will be a long way off. So, was that enough overkill for everyone?


	21. Part 21

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 21**_|

| The Chaos Generals and the Xros Dimensional Adventure | **Part 4** |

**"Pulse Blast!"** Chaos Lord shot down Shoutmon X5 and Decker Greymon with a shockwave from the cannons on his back that seemed to somehow drain them of their power.

"What the heck was that?" Shoutmon X5 was not amused as he crashed to the ground and could barely get back on his feet. "It's like I don't have any strength left at all."

Taiki frowned. "It must be a side effect from Chaos Lord's attack."

"In that case all we have to do is shake it off and blast him into the ground before he has a chance to use it again," Kiriha instructed Decker Greymon. The heavily weaponized dinosaur could felt so weak that he could barely support the weight of his own arm cannon, but he stubbornly defied the protests of his own body to keep the cannon level as he pointed it at Chaos Lord.

**"Plasma Deckerdra-Launcher!"** Unfortunately, the resulting ball of plasma was only a fraction of its normal size, lacking any real destructive power, and simply fizzled out when it impacted against Chaos Lord's metal body. Kiriha's eyes went wide with shock when he realized the attack had failed to damage the enemy at all.

"It's no use," Chaos Lord disparaged him. With his two opponents so badly debilitated in their weakened state, the machine digimon took the opportunity to fully charge his back cannons with power. Once the cannons were fully charged her fired off a shot and Shoutmon X5 and Decker Greymon, keeping the final shot in reserve just in case. **"Chaos Cannon!"**

The two Digi Xrossed digimon quickly broke apart into their constituents lying scattered across the ground.

"This guy seriously packs a punch," Shoutmon grumbled as he pushed himself to get back on his feet.

Taiki looked to Nene and Kiriha. They both seemed to be alright, although it looked like Kiriha had taken another sharp blow to his ego from how much of a failure Decker Greymon's last attack had been.

"I think we're going to have to set aside our differences on this one," Taiki spoke seriously. "Since it doesn't seem like any of our usual methods are working against this particular enemy we're going to have to fight him differently. And that means we should cooperate so we don't leave out any options."

"So it's really come down to that," Kiriha sighed. He couldn't deny that Taiki had a point. Chaos Lord had proven to be far more powerful than he had initially given him credit for. It was no wonder that the other Crystal and her partner had struggled so much against him. Perhaps they had even known from the start that they wouldn't be able to beat him on their own. That seemed like a fair assessment.

"Even so, what can we do?" Nene observed as the digimon were slowly picking themselves up as they recovered from the sudden split of their respective Digi Xrosses.

Taiki looked to Kiriha. "Well, we could try _that_."

"Sure, why not? I suppose a stronger adversary demands a stronger Digi Xros," Kiriha shrugged. "But we better not lose again."

Taiki nodded as he held out his Xros Loader. **"Shoutmon, Ballistamon, Dorulumon!"**

**"Greymon, Mail Birdramon!" **Kiriha responded in kind.

**"Digi Xros!"** they declared together.

The five digimon shot into the sky, each surrounded by their own aura of colored light as they collided and assembled themselves into the shape of their finished Digi Xros. **"Shoutmon X3 GM!"**

* * *

The other Crystal knelt down beside her fallen digimon partner. "You better not quit on me now."

"No way I'm dying again in a place like this," the small dragon voiced her agreement as she picked herself up off the ground. "But since we didn't stop to eat on the way here, you definitely owe me some pizza when we get back."

"Done," the other Crystal conceded. "Now let's get back there and win this thing!"

"Hold it!" Crystal's Zapmon had managed to slip away from Gururumon so she could confront the imposter, twin, clone, or whatever the heck she was for looking like _her_ human. "I'm going with you. I'm getting tired of being kept out of this."

"You certainly make an interesting proposition," the other Crystal looked up as that world's equivalent of her partner came toward them. "You know I'm not your partner, but you still want for me to lead you into battle. I guess that doesn't really surprise me since, at the core, our souls are the same and the connection is there."

The other Crystal's digivice levitated from her pocket as it began to glow and vibrate. The casing became more elongated as a spinning dial filled the space beneath the display screen.

"It became a Xros Loader!" Zapmon exclaimed in surprise.

"Not exactly," the girl's actual partner explained. "Although it has been upgraded to have the same functions. Her digivice is specially formatted to assimilate powers from the different iterations of the digital world we've visited."

"Anyway, if you want to fight, this is your chance," the other Crystal informed the digimon partner of her other self.

"You don't got to ask me twice," Zapmon answered automatically. "My human is still in trouble!"

The other Crystal held up her newly modified digivice. **"Zapmonz, Digi Xros!"**

The two small, black dragons came together to form an identical dragon at roughly double their original size. **"Zapmon Energy Link!"**

"I don't really feel any different," remarked the newly Digi Xrossed digimon.

"That's because we're not finished yet," stated the other Crystal. "That was just the first step. My Zapmon was already really wiped out from her fight with Chaosdramon, but the Zapmon from this world should be at full power. And, by combining you both together, you should be able to easily exceed your limits!"

Zapmon Energy Link shut her eyes as power began to well up inside of her, manifesting as light radiating out from the silver and gold lightning bolt patterned markings covering her body. The crest in the tag around the other Crystal's neck began to shine as her digivice simultaneously shot out a beam of silver light to form a gleaming pillar around the newly Digi Xrossed digimon. **"Zapmon Energy Link Chou-Kyuukyoku Shinka!"**

The gleaming pillar of light shattered like a pane of glass as a huge black dragon with tattered golden wings broke away from it. Her arms were proportionately longer than her legs with three-fingered hands tipped with silver claws. Feathered, flame patterned, wing-like protrusions extended from each of her forearms to form colorful retractable arm-blades. Her legs were thick and muscular to support the weight of her upper body so she could stand upright and her large feet were equipped with the same number of digits as her hands. Her muscular tail swung out behind her like a potentially powerful whip, split at the end to form a pair of sharp spikes. The dragon was approximately thirty-five feet tall when standing fully upright.

**"Eclipse Zapdramon!"** the newly evolved digimon declared. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

* * *

"Did you see that?" Zenjirou turned to Akari after witnessing the emergence of yet another humongous digimon that seemed to appear out of nowhere, not aware that it was actually another form of Zapmon.

"It seemed pretty close by," Akari replied, hugging Cutemon more tightly to her. "I hope Taiki and the others are doing okay. This place seems really dangerous."

* * *

**"Breath of Perun!"** Shoutmon X3 GM exhaled an intense, high temperature breath of flames with enough force to melt a huge gaping hole straight through Chaos Lord's metal body.

**"Chaos Cannon!"** Chaos Lord took another shot at Shoutmon X3 GM with his back cannons, but the pterosaur digimon was too quick for him and the blast missed him completely. It seemed that the time had come for him to undergo the final stage of his evolutionary transformation. He could sense that the other Chaos Generals had already been eliminated and so, he called to the lingering fragments of their data had become dispersed throughout the surrounding area. The data was pulled toward him like it was being sucked up by an enormous vacuum cleaner and as the damaged section of his body started to repair itself. And, as Chaos Lord continued to absorb the data of the other Chaos Generals into himself, his body began to change, standing more erect like Chaos Greymon with Chaos Seadramon's huge tail swaying back and forth behind him. His right arm became a modified version of Chaos Greymon's equipped with a blood red Dramon Killer gauntlet. Red versions of the ribbons that had floated behind Chaos Piemon fanned out from his armored shoulders. Chaos Dukemon's shield formed at the center of his chest, rotating like an enormous turbine to divert power to all of the machinery covering his body.

"That doesn't look good," Sparrowmon commented.

"Every time we start to beat this guy he just gets even stronger," Shoutmon X3 GM observed.

"It's like when we were fighting with Lucemon in Heaven Zone," Taiki realized. "But I think this is must be his final form because he just assimilated all of his teammates."

"Even so," noted Kiriha. "We're still going to have our work cut out for us finishing that thing off."

"Then maybe we can give you all a hand with that! **Quantum Flare!"** Eclipse Zapdramon declared from above with the other Crystal perched precariously on her shoulder. A massive golden fireball formed in the space between her huge hands as she hurled it down at the large metal head of the newly formed NeoCrimson D successfully setting the entirety of his metal body on fire. Of course, the flames were readily extinguished by the lack of fuel provided by the sturdy metal, but it definitely got the enemy digimon's attention.

"For a dragon, you must have as many lives as a cat," NeoCrimson D remarked in a hollow metallic voice. "I wonder how many times I have to kill you before you begin to wish you didn't just keep coming back."

He pushed himself into the dark sky to combat his airborne assailant. **"Blind Attack!"** He lashed out at Eclipse Zapdramon with the Dramon Killer on his right arm.

"You're forgetting that you've never actually succeeded at killing me!" Eclipse Zapdramon extended one of her phoenix wing patterned arm-blades to intercept the attack. The two of them bounced off each other, immediately charging in for another violent collision. "**Supreme Slash!"**

"Well, this could certainly work out in our favor," observed Taiki.

"The Chaos Generals were after her to begin with," agreed Kiriha. "This digimon doesn't even care that we're here anymore."

"Which means he won't see Shoutmon X3 GM coming," noted Taiki.

"Which means we can finally end this," Kiriha responded with an obvous smirk.

"The let's finish this!" Shoutmon X3 GM flew around behind NeoCrimson D as the energy radiating off of his wings began to grow in intensity until the burning glow surrounded his entire body. **"Wild Burning!" **he declared as he swiftly dodged around NeoCrimson D's long, serpentine tail inherited from Chaos Seadramon and plowed straight into the middle of his opponent's back, briefly being met with resistance from NeoCrimson D's sturdy metal armor, but managed to punch through by raising his speed using the energy radiating off of his wings for additional propulsion power. Flames spread from the gaping wound as Shoutmon X3 GM burst through the front of NeoCrimson D's chest, breaking through the turbine that had been formed by Chaos Dukemon's shield.

"Alright, now you can deal maximum damage by blasting him in that open wound!" Kiriha called up to him.

"Way ahead of you!" Shoutmon X3 GM declared as he spun around to face NeoCrimson D. **"Breath of Perun!"** He exhaled another breath of intense, high temperature flames into the exposed opening he had broken in his opponent's metal armor.

**"Dragon-Fire Shockwave!"** Eclipse Zapdramon ignited the surface of her body with a combination of golden flames and a strong, silver-colored electric field before extending it into the exposed opening in NeoCrimson D's metal armor.

The overload of fire and electrical energy flowing into NeoCrimson D caused a major disruption to his internal machine components that caused him to completely destabilize as his body was rapidly disintegrated from the inside out. Before he completely faded away, NeoCrimson D managed a few parting words in his hollow metallic voice. "Remarkably well played young humans and digimon. This defeat will surely be a memorable one."

* * *

"Looks like the fireworks are over," Crystal whistled appreciatively as NeoCrimson D was eradicated from the battlefield.

"That's a load off my mind," Slashdramon heaved a quiet sigh of relief. "For a second there I was beginning to think I might have to somehow make it up there without the aid of wings."

"Guess we're going to have to work on that," Crystal agreed.

* * *

"That was pretty intense," Shoutmon began popping his joints to help ease his fatigue.

"In a way it was lucky that it happened in this area," noted Taiki. "There weren't any other living beings occupying this space that could have been hurt by our battle. If this had happened in an actual Zone it could have been an even bigger problem."

"For you maybe," Kiriha retorted. "But I would never subject myself to holding back against a powerful enemy."

"That isn't something you should be proud of," Akari quickly reprimanded him as she and Zenjirou finally returned on Crystal's Gururumon and Lighdramon.

"At any rate it looks like almost everyone is accounted for," noted the other Crystal, her own Zapmon having assumed a perch on her shoulder after reverting back and breaking from the earlier Digi Xros. "That means I'll be able to take you all back to where I found you before we came here."

"No way," the native Zapmon was staring incredulously at Slashdramon as if he had caused her some terrible injustice. "How come Slashmon gets to evolve before I do?"

Slashdramon crouched down so Crystal could climb off of his head. "Maybe it's because you've still got a lot of growing up to do."

* * *

And so, the other Crystal made them a path back to the Fossil Zone from that dark other world where they had fought off the Chaos Generals. It was refreshing to be back in an environment with a little more color, even if it was just a barren wasteland littered with ancient skeletons.

"Alright, I've fulfilled my purpose here," she looked around at the rest of them. "I should probably head back to my own world before they decide to send a search party." She began fiddling with her digivice to open up a portal before she added, "One last thing. It's possible that you guys might encounter me again and I might not remember any of you. That's because even though this is technically our first meeting for all of you, I've actually met you all before, but I don't think that actually happens until sometime in the future. It's something to think about. Oh, and if you happen to run into a guy named Blaze, tell him I said to stay out of trouble!"

Of course, before she could explain herself, the portal had formed and she took off without another word, taking all possibility of a solid explanation along with her.

* * *

"Well, that was sufficiently weird," Crystal couldn't get over the fact that she had just met another version of herself. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She dug around in her pocket and pulled out the piece of the Code Crown she had taken from Chaos Dukemon and handed it over to Taiki. "I got this back after Slashdramon took down Chaos Dukemon so I want for you to have it."

This was, of course, met with an angry glare from Kiriha. "Is that the thanks I get for helping to save you?"

"But didn't you say that you had absolutely no interest in trying to save her and that you were only tagging along so you could get back the piece of the Code Crown that was stolen from you, not that it ever actually belonged to you in the first place?" inquired Zapmon.

"That's definitely what I heard," agreed Shoutmon.

"You both talk too much," Kiriha huffed and stalked away from them. It wasn't like he had any business hanging around with the members of Xros Heart when there were still more Zones for him to claim for his own Blue Flare army.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: And that finally concludes the AU Crystal cameo arc. Now that that's over, I think I'm going to take a little break from insanely complicated, over the top story arcs for some more simplistic and fun ones to give my mind a chance to cool off before I delve into anything else that demands so many drastic shifts in perspective. Anyway, I hope those of you reading this enjoyed that little voyage into absolute insanity and don't mind if I tone it down a notch so I can get on with the rest of the story without making my brain explode. See you next time!


	22. Part 22

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 22**_|

There was a question drifting in the back of Crystal's mind. She let it fester there awhile as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Seeing herself standing there wearing the silver bikini that Zapmon had forced on her, she couldn't contain herself any longer. "Why the hell do I have to be dressed like this!"

However, to answer that question, it would probably be best to go back to Xros Heart's arrival at the Beach Zone.

As the name would imply, the Beach Zone was a composed of a glorious stretch of sandy beach with glistening waves beating gently against the shore. There were numerous palm trees, a few volleyball courts, and quite a lot of aquatic digimon all around. One of the palm trees kind of looked like Envy. There were also several wooden beach side shacks, primarily for the purpose of serving out refreshments, except for the largest one which belonged to Zudomon who was, for all intents and purposes, the digimon in charge of the entire beach.

"Well this is a pleasant change of scenery," Akari remarked as they were greeted by sunshine and the salty sea air. In fact, it seemed that it was one of the small handful of Zones that had somehow managed to go unconquered by the Bagra Empire. In short, the atmosphere was calm and peaceful.

"So maybe we can get our hands on the Code Crown quickly and enjoy the rest of the day on the beach!" Shoutmon suggested.

"Maybe," Taiki considered it. "But we still have to find it first."

There must have been a trick to it like there had been in the Shinobi Zone. Otherwise he couldn't imagine how such peaceful digimon could have been able to hang onto it like this.

"We might not have to look very hard," Crystal noted as she held up a hand to point out a banner hanging outside of the large beach side shack belonging to Zudomon. There was an image of the Code Crown overlaid with an announcement reading:

**Annual Swimsuit Competition! Become Ruler of the Beach Zone for the Coming Year!**

It went on to say that registration would begin that very same afternoon.

"A swimsuit competition, huh?" Zenjirou rubbed his chin appreciatively. He began to picture how the girls might look wearing practically nothing to reveal a fair amount of skin and steam blew out his nose at the prospect as he threw both fists in the air. "We definitely have to enter!"

Crystal groaned audibly. She would have nothing to do with this.

"Hm," Taiki contemplated the situation. "Well, it does seem like winning the swimsuit competition will be the easiest way for us to obtain the Code Crown."

"It looks like the competition might be girls only," Nene observed. In as much as the digimon lined up to participate had the appearance of aquatic animals, it was exceptionally difficult to determine their genders without speaking to them, she was only guessing based on the fact that all of them were wearing bikinis or other equally feminine looking swimsuits.

"Then I guess it's up to us girls to win this thing!" Zapmon declared without any hesitation.

"Like hell!" Crystal refused point blank. Unfortunately, as she turned to take her leave of Zapmon's ridiculous proposition, the small dragon caught her by the arm and held her there. "Let me go! I'm not doing this! You can't make me do this! It's stupid! I refuse to be a part of it!" Each exclamation was punctuated by Crystal struggling, rather unsuccessfully, to pull free from Zapmon's grasp.

"Come on," Zapmon persisted. "We've got hardly any girls as it is. You can't just walk out on us."

"I could if you would just let go of me!" Crystal stubbornly resisted.

"She must not be comfortable with her femininity," Nene suggested.

"It sure sounds that way," Akari agreed.

"No one asked you!" Crystal sighed in exasperation. The whole situation was entirely demeaning and the one responsible for recommending that they do a chapter like this was obviously evil. Nevertheless, Crystal's protests went unheeded and she eventually found herself being dragged into a changing room all the while proclaiming, "But we don't even have swimsuits!"

"Don't worry, the Monitamon have that covered," Nene assured her.

The three human girls were accompanied by Bastemon, the only other female member of Xros Heart of sufficient size to participate in the competition. Zapmon stuck to Crystal to make sure she didn't try to escape, but since there was no way she could find a respectable looking swimsuit in her size she couldn't actually join in the competition. Of course, when the small dragon began trying to undress her so she could get changed, Crystal fiercely drew the line by declaring, "I can do that myself!"

She snatched away the swimsuit that her partner had picked out for her and disappeared behind the curtain of one of the changing stalls to put it on. Which, of course, brings us back to where this all started.

"You're dressed that way because it makes you look sexy and you're trying to obtain the Code Crown for Taiki," Zapmon told her matter-of-factly as she ducked under the curtain to have look. "Really, I don't see what you're so self conscious about. It looks great on you."

"Yeah," Crystal murmured. "But I'm really not comfortable with showing this much skin."

"Well this competition isn't really about being comfortable," Zapmon started dragging her out from behind the curtain so they could regroup with the others. "It's about looking good so we can win."

Nene seemed to be perfectly at home in her own bikini which was pale lavender and held in place with strings so that there was virtually no fabric to cover her back. Akari had on a somewhat more modest light red bikini that was just a dark enough shade not to be mistaken for pink. Bastemon had on a leopard print bikini that closely matched her normal attire.

Crystal immediately felt that blue would have been a preferable color for her. It was more subtle than silver so she wouldn't have stood out so much. She grabbed a towel and immediately draped it around her shoulders like a poncho.

"Crystal, you really don't have to be so embarrassed," Bastemon gave the human a light pat on the head.

"She'll get over it eventually," Zapmon was fairly confident of that fact.

* * *

Once they were back outside Crystal noticed Lilithmon, adorned in a black bat-wing patterned bikini that barely seemed to fit over her voluptuous curves, accompanied by a school of Ranamon. Using the group of Ranamon around her, Lilithmon was pushing aside the other contestants to push her way to the front of the registration line.

"What digimon is that?" It was Crystal's first time seeing one of the Bagra Empire's three head officers and she already knew she didn't like her.

"That's Lilithmon," Akari told her, sounding somewhat resentful toward the busty evil digimon.

"She's also one of the three head officers of the Bagra Empire," added Nene.

"She has a lot of nerve thinking she can barge in on this competition," Bastemon hissed as her hackles began to rise.

Zapmon peered up at Crystal. "Still feel like walking away from the competition?"

"No," Crystal conceded. She calmly cast off the towel she had been keeping herself covered with. "Even though I probably won't be adding much to the competition, we really can't afford to let the Bagra Empire win."

* * *

Once all the contestants were registered they were lined up on a humongous stage so the voting could begin. As could be expected, the competition had brought together a huge crowd of enthusiastic male digimon who were cheering wildly, clearly not at all particular about the small assortment of humans who had joined the competition among all the digimon. Taiki was content to wait at the back of the crowd so he wouldn't get trampled, but Zenjirou was steadily pushing his way to the front so he could get a better look at the girls.

"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea," Taiki noted in consideration of the fact that Lilithmon was part of the competition. She was abiding by the rules of the competition and had remained civilized so far, pushing her way to the front of the registration line not withstanding, but it could easily get ugly once a fight broke out. Taiki didn't think it was a matter of 'if', but more a matter of 'when' given that he could anticipate that Lilithmon wouldn't take kindly to losing the competition, but even if she won she would likely begin to force her will on the inhabitants of the Beach Zone. And Taiki really didn't trust that group of digimon that Lilithmon had brought with her to the competition. She had clearly come prepared to engage in an aquatic battle.

"Next up we have-" Zudomon trailed off as he glanced at the name written on the registration form. "Omekamon?"

Omekamon stepped forward. Rather than actually wearing a swimsuit, he had hastily drawn a scribbled version of a bikini onto the front of his body. The odd puppet digimon had also attempted to draw himself a 'sexy' face, but it was really just his normal expression with additional colors scribbled on to make it appear as if he was wearing lipstick and eye liner. He placed his cardboard hands on his hips and wiggled them in what he probably intended to be a seductive manner, but all that earned him was a chorus of intense laughter from the audience. Disappointed by their reason, he immediately covered his face and erased his old expression to replace it with a new sulky one, complete with drawn on tears trailing down his cheeks as he ran off stage wailing sorrowfully.

"Well then, that was rather unexpected," Zudomon quickly flipped to the next registration form so they could get on with competition.

* * *

It eventually came to be time for the judges to decide on a winner for the swimsuit competition. Once that was out of the way, an Orcamon came out to give Zudomon the envelope containing the name of the winner. Zudomon carefully ripped it open, extracting the small sheet of paper from inside and glanced down at the name written across it.

"And the winner of this year's swimsuit competition is none other than the lovely Shutumon!" he announced to a fresh chorus of cheers from the waiting crowd.

Of course, this didn't rest well with Lilithmon. The instant Shutumon stepped forward to receive her prize, she was ambushed by the group of Ranamon that had accompanied Lilithmon to competition.

_**"RANDOM LASER!"**_ Sparrowmon swooped down and immediately started blasting the Ranamon off of Shutumon. Zapmon hopped down from Sparrowmon's back with Crystal and Nene's Xros Loaders in hand, skillfully tossing them over to both girls. Ever since they had discovered that Lilithmon would be entering the competition, they had been expecting for something like this to happen.

"I guess now that the competition is over we can settle this the old fashion way," Crystal felt much better once she had her hand wrapped around her Xros Loader. **"Slashdramon, Black Fladramon, Digi Xros!"**

The two digimon came together with the result being that Slashdramon became adorned with Black Fladramon's flame armor. **"Slash Fladramon!"** The metal claws on his flame gauntlets began to glow with red-orange fire as he swung them at the group of fleeing Ranamon to produce crescent shaped shockwaves. **"Claws of Fire!"**

A portal suddenly opened up over Lilithmon as she held her arms out wide. "Calmaramon, dispose of these pests!"

**"Titanic Charge!"** Calmaramon fell from the portal, pulling her tentacles in close as her squid-like body began to rotate like a drill as she threw herself at Slash Fladramon. Slash Fladramon spun around to face her, just narrowly catching her spinning body between his clawed hands. The rotation of Calmaramon's lower body gradually came to a halt once she was caught between Slash Fladramon's claws and then the flame armored dragon flung her out to sea before stomping out after her, not unlike a rampaging kaiju.

**"Death the Cannon!"** Beelzebumon descended upon Lilithmon with a barrage of blasts from his arm mounted cannon. She was less than pleased to see him.

**"Three Victorize!"** Shoutmon X4 fired a blast from the V on his chest at Lilithmon to quickly divert her attention away from Beelzebumon by providing her with yet another target. Fortunately, the crowd surrounding the competition stage had already scattered as soon as the fighting started so there wasn't any trouble getting through.

Omekamon suddenly burst back onto the stage with Zenjirou slung over one shoulder. The puppet digimon set him down by the girls before charging in to join the battle. Most surprisingly, he ran up to one of the Ranamon and performed a flying kick which easily struck her in the face causing her to explode into a golden cloud of data.

"Wait, you're telling me that guy can actually fight?" Zenjirou became even more baffled.

"Apparently so," Crystal verified for him. "You know, this might prove useful."

"What are you going to do?" Akari wondered aloud.

"I'm going to use her vanity against her," Crystal responded as she held up her Xros Loader again. **"Zapmon, Gururumon, Lighdramon, Omekamon, Digi Xros!"**

Zapmon, Gururumon and Lighdramon came together to form X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode while Omekamon let out a surprised "Omek!" before transforming into a cardboard approximation of the Omega Blade with hastily scribbled digi-code letters written on both sides of the sword and the felt tip of an over-sized marker forming the point of the blade. X-Zapdramon took hold of the cardboard sword with one hand. **"X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode + Omeka Blade!"**

**"Rakugaki Rengeki!"** X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode made rapid slashing motions with the Omeka Blade causing a rainbow of ink to splatter over Lilithmon as it took on the shape of letters to form the word 'loser' in a number of different languages as the ink stained Lilithmon's body. At first Lilithmon simply laughed it off as a pathetically weak attack until she actually bothered to look at some of the writing to realize what had been written all over her. She rushed over to the water's edge and began furiously scrubbing at the ink trying to make it come off.

"Sorry, but that ink isn't water soluble!" X-Zapdramon Fighter Mode declared as she brought the Omeka Blade around and made another dive at Lilithmon. "I'm afraid it's permanent!"

"Keep that thing away from me!" Lilithmon caught the Omeka Blade in her hand, but not without more ink splattering across her face to make her look like a clown.

**"Magma Breath Explosion!"** Slash Fladramon turned away from Calmaramon to exhale an explosive blast of super hot fire onto Lilithmon's exposed back, effectively burning away her already absurdly skimpy bat-wing bikini. The embodiment of lust then blushed profusely, out of a combination of both anger and embarrassment, before vanishing into a portal.

"Fine, I don't feel like playing with you anymore today!" were Lilithmon's parting words. The few remaining Ranamon attempted to flee into the portal after her, but the portal closed before they could make it.

**"Razor Flame Impaler!" **Slash Fladramon raised his flaming metal claws and stabbed them into Calmaramon, roasting her alive before she finally dissolved into a cloud of golden data so that the flame armored dragon could finally return to shore.

* * *

Once the battle was over, Shutumon decided that she would gladly hand the Code Crown over to Xros Heart. The Ranamon who had accompanied Lilithmon surrendered and were now under Zudomon's supervision. So, all that was left was to enjoy the rest of the day on the beach. Of course, Crystal had something else she wanted to take care of first.

"Hey, has anyone seen my clothes?"

Zapmon just looked up at her blankly. "I'm pretty sure you left them back in the changing room."

"That's what I thought, but when I went back I couldn't find them," Crystal explained.

"Huh, well that's weird," Zapmon scratched the back of her head. "Well, you can worry about that later. You might as well enjoy the beach while the sun is still out."

Crystal was going to be awfully mad when she found out that Zapmon had tied her clothes up on a palm tree, but the small dragon decided that it would be worth it once the day was through. After all, they didn't get too many chances to just relax like this in the Digital World. It was best to just enjoy it while they could.

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra** |_** Omake 3 **_|_**  
**_

Lilithmon, splattered with multi-colored ink and with her bat-wing bikini ruined and burned into tatters, stormed past Blastmon once she returned to the Bagra Empire's Headquarters. She seemed even more irritable than usual.

"Did you have a bad day Lili-tan?" Blastmon immediately attempted to comfort her.

"It could have been better," Lilithmon grumbled. She didn't so much as slow down to answer him. "I'm going to have to borrow your bath for awhile," she added as an afterthought. She could get revenge on Xros Heart later, but right now she desperately wanted to rid herself of all the horribly obnoxious ink that had gotten all over her. She would never have pegged a digimon as weak and pathetic as Omekamon as being such a remarkable nuisance.

"Mind if I join you?" Blastmon hopped along after her as best he could being just a bouncing head. It really wasn't the same not having any arms. He couldn't quite get himself to sparkle like he used to. "Lili-tan?" he called after Lilithmon again since she seemed to be ignoring him. "You still haven't answered my question!"

"Alright!" Lilithmon turned on him. "Just be quiet!"

**Omake 3 - End**

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, Halloween is upon us and next month is NaNoWriMo (or Nation Novel Writing Month) so this will probably be my last update for awhile. Not to mention, even after November, things tend to get pretty chaotic around here during the holiday rush. I'll certainly try to update when I can, but time is going to become pretty scarce for me in the months ahead. Even so, I do plan for this story to continue. It just might take awhile for it to get back on track after this.


	23. Part 23

Disclaimer: Although the severely warped and twisted imagination is my own, Digimon Xros Wars and its characters are the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Bandai, Toei Animation, and TV Asahi.

* * *

| Digimon Xros Wars | **Xtra **| _**Part 23**_|

The Machine Metropolis located within the Factory Zone was populated with machine digimon of all shapes and sizes. There were buildings everywhere. And most of those buildings were factories built to manufacture other machine digimon. It was also a very easy place to get lost. In fact, some of the factory buildings were large enough that they almost constituted an entire city in and of themselves. And it was in one such building that the constituents of team Xros Heart soon found themselves after yet another successful Zone Transfer.

Any gratitude they might have felt for arriving on solid ground instead of plummeting out of the sky was cut short when they felt the ground beneath their feet start to move as it rapidly became apparent that they were standing on an enormous conveyor belt inside of the factory. Of course, this wouldn't have posed too much of a problem if not for what happened next. When Taiki and Crystal pulled out their respective Xros Loaders to bring out a digimon that might be able to help in this situation, the conveyor belt they were standing on suddenly spilled them out onto an inclined ramp that quickly split into two smaller ramps causing the group to become separated as they were dropped onto another set of conveyor belts down a level from the one they had arrived on. The end result was that Taiki and Akari were carried away in one direction with Crystal's silver Xros Loader along with all of the digimon contained inside of it while Crystal and Zenjirou were carried away in a completely different direction with Taiki's red Xros Loader along with all of the digimon contained inside of it. Meanwhile, the progression of ramps and conveyor belts meant that they were still being carried further and further away without showing any sign of stopping.

* * *

"Get off of me before I make you get off!" Crystal muttered once she felt fairly confident that she and Zenjirou were finally on solid, unmoving ground. Zenjirou complied and the two of them were finally able to take in their surroundings. It looked like they had landed on top of a giant scrap heap. Except that it didn't seem to be comprised of just broken scraps of metal, but also busted up machine digimon. Or at least what was left of them.

"Well, this place doesn't look too inviting," Zenjirou commented as he continued to look around.

"I guess they must keep all this stuff down here for the spare parts," Crystal rubbed the back of her head. "But I couldn't tell you how they manage to find anything in this mess."

"Hey Zenjirou, Crystal! You guys okay?" Shoutmon called over to them, waving an arm to get their attention while holding onto Taiki's Xros Loader with the other. Ballistamon, Dorulumon and Cutemon had also emerged from the Xros Loader along with him.

"We're fine!" Zenjirou called back.

"But it looks like Taiki and Akari must have landed somewhere else," Crystal observed. "So, if you guys are down here with us, I really hope they managed to meet up with my digimon."

From the looks of it, the scrap heap they had landed in was contained in a huge pit cut into the floor of the factory surrounded by huge metal walls. And it didn't look like there were any ladders or staircases anywhere for them to climb out of it.

"So, how are we gonna get out of here?" Shoutmon looked to Crystal like he was expecting for her to come up with a plan.

"What are you looking at me for?" Crystal started uncertainly. If she had her Xros Loader, then she could just call out one of her winged digimon to fly them out of the pit and onto the factory floor, but since all she had to work with were Taiki's digimon and he didn't keep anything flight worthy inside of his Xros Loader that wasn't going to be of any use. And, since it wasn't her Xros Loader, she wouldn't be able to use any Digi Xrosses either.

But wait, she did have access to Ballistamon. She didn't really know how he did it, but she had seen some of the objects that had been manufactured in his chest compartment. Maybe they could have him build a ladder or something out of some of the scrap metal that was littered around them.

"Hang on," Crystal spotted a Mechanorimon that seemed to be more or less intact. And it looked like it might even have flight capabilities. "It looks like this guy is still in one piece." She turned to Zenjirou. "Think you can get him running?"

"Let me take a look," Zenjirou went over to examine the Mechanorimon.

"But even if you get it running, Mechanorimon is just a transport digimon so someone is going to have to pilot it," noted Dorulumon.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Crystal responded. "Those cockpit controls look pretty similar to a mecha fighter game I was fairly good at back in the human world so I think I'll be able to fly it."

"Well, this guy seems to be in fairly good shape externally," Zenjirou pointed out. "Probably just need to fix some loose wires and he'll be good as new. But it will probably take a little while for me to find a way to access them."

"Alright," Crystal nodded. "Then I guess Ballistamon can help you with that while the rest of us keep a lookout just in case there's anything else alive down here that might be dangerous."

* * *

Meanwhile, Taiki and Akari had been provided with a somewhat less turbulent landing on the factory floor when Zapmon and Black Fladramon had emerged from Crystal's Xros Loader with the former snatching up the aforementioned Xros Loader before hitching a ride by grabbing onto Black Fladramon's tail while the larger, flame armored dragon digimon used his agility to dash across the conveyor belt they had been dropped off on to snatch up the two humans before leaping effortlessly down from the conveyor belt until they reached solid ground.

"Sheesh, why did we have go and land in a place like this?" Zapmon grumbled as she glanced about the factory for any sign of her missing general.

"It can't be helped," Black Fladramon answered gently. "That's just the way it turned out."

"Anyway, shouldn't we be trying to contact the others?" Akari looked to Taiki.

He nodded and pressed the button on his Wrister to see if he could get a signal. "Zenjirou? Crystal? Can either of you read me?"

_"Loud and clear," Crystal's voice came through. "We've got your Xros Loader by the way, so your digimon are down here with us. We're already working on a possible way out of this pit we seem to have fallen into, but if you manage to find my Xros Loader you might be able to get to us faster by sending out the Fan Beemonz to search the factory for us."_

Taiki nodded as he spoke into the Wrister. "Alright, I'll do that."

_"Oh good, you've found it already. In that case, you shouldn't have any trouble getting around once you let out one of my fast flying digimon," Crystal responded with some relief._

Except that then there was static as a series of explosions sounded from somewhere else in the factory.

"Crystal! What happened? Are you okay?" Zapmon immediately latched onto Taiki's arm and started screeching into the Wrister trying to get through to her general.

Taiki's expression turned serious. "Alright, we'd better hurry up and get to them."

* * *

The only reason Crystal got away unscathed when Duskmon suddenly appeared and bombarded the area with energy beams from his hands and the eyes all of his body was because Dorulumon snatched her up by the back of the shirt with his mouth and tossed her behind a pile of scrap metal that shielded her from the surprise attack before quickly moving out of harm's way himself. Shoutmon was understandably displeased by the intrusion.

"What the heck is this guy's problem?" Shoutmon had just narrowly managed to deflect one of the blasts that had come at him by batting it away with his retro microphone.

"Duskmon is a subordinate of Lilithmon's," Dorulumon explained readily. "And he's completely ruthless."

Shoutmon quickly tossed Taiki's Xros Loader over at Crystal. "You'd better hold onto that until Taiki gets here. And maybe try to come up with a plan while you're at it!"

Crystal caught the Xros Loader reflexively. "In that case, we'll need Knightmon and the Pawn Chessmonz to put up a barrier around Zenjirou and Ballistamon so they can finish repairing Mechanorimon while we keep Duskmon busy."

"Understood," Knightmon emerged from the Xros Loader accompanied by the Pawn Chessmonz. They quickly moved themselves into a defensive formation in front of where Zenjirou and Ballistamon were repairing the damaged Mechanorimon to generate a defensive barrier over the area.

"Cutemon, you should get inside the barrier too," Dorulumon told the smaller digimon.

Cutemon reluctantly dismounted the drill-covered wolf. "Be careful, kyu."

Dorulumon simply nodded and watched Cutemon until he was satisfied that he was safe behind the barrier. Then he inclined his head toward Crystal. "What about you? Shouldn't you be heading for cover yourself?"

"You should worry less about me and more about yourself," Crystal answered quickly. "I'm betting all those eyes on his body give Duskmon an excellent field of vision so you're going to have to stay on the move to avoid becoming an easy target. We can't afford to let him get a solid hit on us this early in the fight."

That being said, Crystal had already begun to climb up the neighboring scrap heap that Dorulumon had tossed her behind so that several of Duskmon's many eyes became locked on her. "I see, so you were the one who defiled my lady Lilithmon."

"What's that crazy girl doing?" Shoutmon was shocked that immediately after she warned Dorulumon not to make himself an easy target Crystal would reveal herself to Duskmon like that.

"Creating a diversion," Dorulumon shook his head in response. Crystal was being just as reckless as Taiki, if not moreso.

"Then we'd better give him something else to look at," Shoutmon growled as he gathered energy in one hand and then tossed it at Duskmon to smack him in the side of the face. **"Rock Damashii!"**

Duskmon didn't so much as flinch, but the blast still got his attention. "I suppose it would be boring if I got to kill her too easily."

**"Drill Buster!"** Dorulumon started blasting Duskmon with a barrage of drills from his forehead as he circled around from the front to draw the dark warrior's attention to him.

Shoutmon quickly circled around behind Duskmon to club him in the back with his retro microphone. **"Rowdy Rocker!"**

"Che," Shoutmon grunted as he was thrown back while Duskmon didn't even budge from where he stood. "This guy isn't even feeling our attacks."

He was understandably surprised when Crystal clocked Duskmon over the head with a toaster by tossing it down from the top of the neighboring scrap heap causing it to shatter on impact. Certainly, if Duskmon were to have had eyebrows, one of them would have been raised in mild bewilderment at the feeble assault. His distraction with Crystal did cause him to momentarily lose focus on Shoutmon and Dorulumon. Both digimon readily took notice of this fact.

"Now!" Shoutmon raised his retro microphone to his mouth. **"Soul Crusher!"** he declared into the microphone as his voice took shape as a powerful blast aimed at Duskmon.

**"Dorulu Tornado!"** Dorulumon followed suit by enlarging the drill on his tail and using the rapid rotation to produce a tornado of golden energy with which to blast Duskmon.

This time, when the smoke cleared, Duskmon was actually slightly singed. "It would seem that you aren't nearly as weak as I first took you to be. And, in that case, perhaps it's time I started to fight back. **Geist Abend!"**

"Not so fast!" Crystal called out from on top of the neighboring scrap heap. She picked up a large, broken gear from the pile in her left hand and threw it down at Duskmon as the various eyes on his body began to shine with the energy that would form the beams of his attack so that it slammed hard into the middle eye on his chest causing the eye to close in response to the pain. Afterward, when Duskmon fired off the beams for his attack, he missed Shoutmon and Dorulumon completely, although some of them disrupted the stability of the scrap heap Crystal was standing on triggering a slight avalanche of broken metal so that she started to slide down the face of the shifting mountain until the pile gradually settled in place again.

Crystal wasn't immediately concerned by her predicament because she was too busy being surprised by what had just happened with Duskmon. "Damn, I wasn't even sure that was going to work."

"Quick, while he's stunned!" Dorulumon reacted swiftly. He enlarged the drill on his tail so that he could ride along on top of it before slamming into Duskmon. **"Drill Blader!"** He bounced off like a pinball, but he had already succeeded at knocking the dark warrior slightly off balance.

**"Rowdy Rocker!"** Shoutmon clubbed Duskmon with his retro microphone to finish the job so that Duskmon was finally knocked down on his back.

"Well done," Duskmon began to cackle manically as he sprang up from where he had fallen. "It's been quite some time since anyone has given me a real workout."

"Sheesh, just how tough _is_ this guy?" Shoutmon wasn't exactly pleased to see Duskmon recovering so easily.

"This is the first time I've really seen him in action," Dorulumon confessed.

Crystal dusted herself off as she finally got back on her feet standing on the new top of the displaced scrap heap. "I think he might be upset about that little prank I pulled on Lilithmon at the beach."

"And now it's time for me to cut you down," Duskmon turned while raising both of his swords and then lowering them again to produce an after image of a red moon before rushing toward her. **"Eroberung**-ack!" His assault was suddenly disrupted as an electrical shock jolted his body from above as a result of a well-timed Thunderstorm attack from Crystal's Thunderbirmon.

**"Fire Rocket!"** Black Fladramon leapt down from the avian digimon's back, surrounding his body with crimson flames as he went into a steep dive to slam into the slightly paralyzed figure of Duskmon.

"And that just proves I'm his target," Crystal concluded. "Otherwise he wouldn't have become so distracted every time he so much as looked at me."

"That doesn't make it alright for you to be using yourself as a diversion," Zapmon reprimanded the girl as she landed on top of Crystal's head after hopping down from Gryphomon's back.

Gryphomon swooped down to drop off Taiki and Akari before circling back to join in the battle alongside Thunderbirmon and Black Fladramon.

**"Super Sonic Voice!"** Gryphomon produced a high frequency sound wave attack directed at Duskmon to temporarily destabilize his data structure to increase his vulnerability to subsequent attacks.

Then a single Fan Beemon descended behind Duskmon. **"88 Call!"** the insect digimon buzzed as its antennae started to redden and the other twenty-six Fan Beemonz that were usually contained within Crystal's Xros Loader quickly filled the air around the first. **"Gear Stinger!"** they declared in unison as they bombarded Duskmon with their tiny, serrated stingers.

"Yeah, but if I hadn't kept him distracted, Duskmon might have seen you all coming," Crystal pointed out.

"Just don't go making a habit out of it," Zapmon sighed in exasperation. Of course, it was probably already too late for that.

Thunderbirmon swooped down so that Crystal could hop onto the electrical avian digimon's back so she could be dropped off to regroup with Taiki and Akari instead of being a sitting duck on top of that scrap heap.

"You'll probably be wanting this back," Crystal withdrew Taiki's Xros Loader from her pocket so she could give it back to him.

"I think the same probably goes for you," Taiki chuckled as he accepted his Xros Loader and gave Crystal back her own in return. "Although, it looks like you were doing just fine without it."

"That's because I was only stalling for time," Crystal pointed out.

Behind them, the steady hum of a motor could be heard as the red optic circle on the Mechanorimon's chest lit up to signify that the machine digimon was finally operational.

"Hey Crystal-san, I finally finished repairing that digimon like you wanted," Zenjirou called out to them. He hadn't been paying attention to the ongoing battle in the slightest.

Crystal rubbed her hands together. "Then I guess it's about time for me to take it for a test drive!"

* * *

Taiki had already Digi Xrossed his digimon into Shoutmon X4K to combat Duskmon while Crystal had Digi Xrossed the Fan Beemonz into Tiger Vespamon to lend a hand along with Black Fladramon, Thunderbirmon and Gryphomon. While that was going, Crystal went back to hop into the cockpit compartment of the newly repaired Mechanorimon to test out the controls to see if she could use him.

"She really thinks she can fly that thing?" Akari couldn't understand what that girl was thinking.

"Don't look at me," Zenjirou shrugged. "She said the controls look the same as the controls for some crazy video game."

"It's a mecha based fighting game I've played at the arcade," Crystal explained as she succeeded at making the Mechanorimon walk a few steps forward and then a few steps back. "The controls are a little stiff from not being used, but it feels like the control configuration is basically the same. Let's see if I can get it airborne."

"Do you really think we ought to be doing this right this second?" Zapmon was getting impatient because _she_ wanted to be out there beating Duskmon into a crater.

Crystal managed to get the Mechanorimon to lift off so that it was hovering several inches above the ground. "Flight controls are the same too. Now for a weapons check!"

Crystal increased the output of the Mechanorimon's flight boosters to launch straight up into the air. Then she used the onboard instruments to lock on to Duskmon with the red optic circle on Mechanorimon's chest. She squeezed the trigger on the control stick in her right hand causing a laser beam to shoot out from the red optic circle to impact with Duskmon.

"Looks like Mechanorimon is fully operational," Crystal seemed pleased with this result. "Now let's try to take him down for a nice, smooth landing."

She gradually reduced the power output of Mechanorimon's flight boosters to steadily lower him back down to the ground before cutting them off completely so that the machine digimon's feet came back into contact with the ground. "It looks like I can really do this."

"Enough of this foolishness!" Duskmon immediately recovered from the punishment he had sustained at the hands of Shoutmon X4K and the other digimon that were still battling him. However, upon closer inspection, he still didn't appear to be taking all that much damage. And once he had picked himself up again, Duskmon quickly cut down both Thunderbirmon and Gryphomon with his blades causing enough damage to them both that they were forced to return to Crystal's Xros Loader for immediate recovery. After that, he simultaneously locked blades with Shoutmon X4K and Tiger Vespamon before he then unleashed a bombardment of energy beams from the numerous eyes all over his body to blast both opposing digimon at close range.

**"Knuckle Fire!"** Black Fladramon came at Duskmon from behind unleashing a flurry of fireballs from his flame gauntlets, but he was too slow and, having broken away from Shoutmon X4K and Tiger Vespamon, Duskmon then spun around to slash the flame armored dragon digimon across the chest with both of his crimson blades. The sharp blow was critical enough that he was forced to retreat from the battlefield to also recover inside of Crystal's Xros Loader.

Taiki was becoming a little unsettled by what was happening on the battlefield. _Something isn't right. It's like Duskmon has become a completely different digimon. And it feels like there's still another monster lurking inside of him._

"I think we'd better take over now," Crystal loaded the repaired Mechanorimon into her Xros Loader so that she could make her way over to the battlefield on foot with Zapmon perched on her shoulder.

"It's about damn time," Zapmon threw a couple of quick punches to demonstrate just how eager she was to lay the smack down on Duskmon.

"I hope you don't lose that enthusiasm once he unleashes his real power," Crystal responded.

"His real power?" Zapmon tilted her head quizzically at her general.

"I think Taiki must have also figured it out by now," Crystal explained. "Duskmon is just a vessel for something even more dangerous."

A sudden shockwave was emitted from Duskmon's body as his arms extended out on either side of him until they had become replaced with a pair of feathered wings. The rest of his body reddened in color and his physical features steadily became more and more avian until he became completely transformed into the far more intimidating figure of the giant bird digimon, Velgmon.

"Still feel like taking him on?" Crystal glanced at Zapmon out of the corner of her eye.

"It goes without saying," Zapmon peered up at Velgmon circling overhead while flapping his enormous wings. "I'm just going to have to beat him even harder now."

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm sorry that it's taken a couple of months for me to make a regular update. The story will finally continue as promised and it looks like things are already heating up.


End file.
